Women's football continues its unstoppable rise, and its impact on the media (and, consequently, on our society) is ever-increasing. Recently, the veteran and controversial journalist José María García stated on the Cadena Cope radio program Grupo Risa that "women's football is a lie" and that if they had achieved a record attendance at the Wanda Metropolitano, it was simply because the tickets were given away.
“They put 70.000 spectators in the Wanda. Yes, 70.000 invitations. And the following Sunday, 1.200. Thats the reality".
These statements created a stir and are in direct contrast to the triumphant aroma that emerges from each of the news surrounding women's football. The players of the Iberdrola League, buoyed by this boom and encouraged by social networks and the media, in order to match their male colleagues in terms of their working conditions, have recently gone on strike.
An Atleti-Barça «historic»
As García stated, on March 17th, women's football achieved its greatest milestone in Spain. The Liga Iberdrola match between Atlético de Madrid and FC Barcelona , which ended 0-2, drew a total of 60.739 spectators to the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid . This figure is more than double the average attendance for the men's La Liga Santander, which also boasts players of the caliber of Messi and Sergio Ramos, of enormous global renown.
The Wanda Metropolitano stadium has a capacity of 68.456 spectators, so although it wasn't completely full (only 7.717 seats remained unoccupied), the stands looked packed. The La Liga Santander men's football league averages 28.693 spectators per match (less than half the number who watched the game live at the Wanda), and its stadiums include those of SD Eibar, with a capacity of 7.083 spectators; CD Leganés, with a capacity of 12.450; and D. Alavés, with a capacity of 19.840.
Atlético de Madrid, one of the clubs that has most supported women's football from the beginning, wanted to actively contribute to achieving this record. In this regard, and taking advantage of having more than 125.000 members (the second club with the most members in Spain, only behind FC Barcelona and ahead of even Real Madrid), they offered each member a completely free ticket , regardless of whether they were season ticket holders or not. This measure was met with great enthusiasm by the members, although it wasn't enough to fill the Atlético stadium.
But Atlético de Madrid's support and promotion of women's football didn't stop there. For the general public, tickets were priced at €5 , which greatly contributed to the record attendance. Therefore, despite what José María García stated, not all tickets were distributed free of charge. In contrast, the average ticket price for the Spanish men's football league is €70 , the second most expensive in the world, only surpassed by the English Premier League, which exceeds €74, according to GoEuro. Despite these figures, men's football matches are watched by an average of 28.693 people each Sunday in each stadium.
Less than a thousand spectators per match
Free tickets for Atlético de Madrid members and reduced-price tickets for the general public created the perfect conditions for achieving this impressive attendance figure. However, the average attendance for women's football in the Liga Iberdrola, beyond major matches like those at the Wanda Metropolitano or other recent fixtures at San Mamés, barely reaches a thousand per game, as reported by Mundo Deportivo . Specifically, Atlético de Madrid's women's team, which sells tickets for 5 euros, attracts an average of 650 fans each Sunday , not 1.200 as José María García claimed.
But there is more, because, according to the newspaper Marca, the total number of fans who go to the stadiums of the women's soccer league every weekend is 5.700, while in the men's soccer league this figure reaches 286.930. From these data we can deduce the average number of fans in each match of the Iberdrola League, which stands at 712 (28.693 in the male case).
television audiences
The record attendance at the Wanda Metropolitano was reported not only by all sports media outlets but also by all mainstream media, which are increasingly giving women's football greater coverage without considering match attendance figures or television viewership data. The match was broadcast free-to-air on Gol TV outside of prime time and, according to the channel's own data, achieved a 4,27% share and an average of 330.000 viewers . It even reached a peak of 413.000 viewers and a 5,5% share. These figures do not include the viewers who tuned in at some point to the match via the Movistar+ pay-TV platform, which also broadcast the game.
We see that these audience figures aren't far from the average for a typical men's football match. The La Liga Santander match between Granada and Real Sociedad on November 3rd, broadcast in prime time on the pay-TV platform Movistar+, reached 320.000 viewers and achieved a 1,8% audience share. Meanwhile, the Granada-Betis match on October 27th, broadcast on free-to-air television by Gol outside of prime time, garnered an audience of 612.000 viewers and a 5,5% share.
Therefore, as we said at the beginning of this text, women's football in Spain is already a reality and its rise is unstoppable. However, there are still many steps to take.
In the last Women's World Cup held in France, Spain was eliminated in the round of 16 by the United States. As all media outlets unanimously agree , Jorge Vilda's team performed admirably, winning only one of their four matches (against South Africa), drawing one, and losing two . The tournament was broadcast free-to-air on Gol. With the round of 16 match against the United States, considered the dominant force in the sport, the Mediapro-owned channel achieved its highest viewership of the season with 1.320.000 viewers and a 12,8% share, also leading among thematic channels that day. In contrast to the men's tournament, Spain's last friendly match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 18, 2018, which had no real competitive significance, garnered a 16,8% share and a total of 3.193.000 viewers.
Photography: La Gradona Atleti