UEFA pledges to spend $1 billion on women’s soccer to grow the game in Europe

NYON, Switzerland (AP) — UEFA pledged Wednesday to steer 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) toward all levels of women’s soccer over the next six years as part of a comprehensive strategy to grow the game in Europe.

UEFA’s goal is to make “football the most-played team sport for women and girls in every European country,” as well as doubling the number of fully professional national leagues to six and raising the number of professional players from 3,000 to 5,000.

“It is our promise to keep investing and collectively lead the game forward, with all European national associations, leagues, clubs, players, fans and partners part of our journey,” UEFA’s director of women’s soccer Nadine Kessler said in a statement.

The UEFA plan, dubbed “Unstoppable,” includes developing paths for women and girls to play, coach and referee from the grassroots level.

Still, Kessler acknowledged in the 31-page document that there are “persistent challenges and obstacles to overcome” in getting more girls and women into the game.

The previous UEFA women’s soccer strategy in 2019 aimed for 2.5 million registered players across its 55 member federations and that target fell well short. The latest document reported 1.6 million registered players last season.

The total prize money for clubs this season in the Women’s Champions League is 24 million euros ($26 million), most of which is a 22 million euro ($23.9 million) subsidy from the men’s competition, where the 32 clubs will share at least 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion).

Many players “still struggle to make a viable living from the game,” Kessler said.

UEFA’s marquee women’s soccer asset is the European Championship — the 2022 final drew 50 million viewers that watched England beat Germany in London. The 2025 edition of the 16-team tournament will be hosted by Switzerland.

By 2030, UEFA will have organized two more Women’s Euros and for the 2022 edition it spent 57.1 million euros ($62 million) on competition costs, according to its annual accounts. More than 20 million euros ($21.7 million) was paid in combined prize money to teams and to clubs for releasing players that were selected.

The 2023 Women’s Champions League final, the UEFA report said, had 5.1 million viewers watching Barcelona beat Wolfsburg 3-2.

UEFA budgeted for spending of more than 53 million euros ($57.5 million) on women’s competitions in its 2023-24 financial year, with the majority on the Champions League.

Europe provided the standout teams at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, though Spain’s 1-0 win over England in the final was overshadowed by the conduct of Luis Rubiales at the game in Sydney, Australia.

Rubiales, who eventually resigned as Spanish federation president and as a UEFA vice president, is set to have his appeal heard next week at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, against a three-year ban by FIFA.

Some of UEFA’s billion-dollar investment is in already announced payments to the 55 members as part of its Hat Trick program, funded by the men’s European Championship. That will send a total of 66 million euros ($71.6 million) to members from 2024-28 for women’s soccer, the report said.

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