What's Next For Women's Soccer?
South Africa are the African champions for the first time and Mamelodi Sundowns are the undefeated continental champions. Women's football is having a moment, so what's next in terms of fandom, sponsorship and the future of the sport?
Banyana Banyana are the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) champions for 2022. This recent victory immediately qualifies the South African Women’s National Team for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted in Australia and New Zealand. And with FIFA in talks to double the prize money for the Women’s World Cup, women’s soccer is on the rise, with more awareness and investment flowing in annually. As women win more, the only issue is bringing their prize money in line with the standards set by the men’s leagues.
The Women's World Cup prize money has doubled over the past two editions, growing from around $US15 million (around R242,235,000) in 2015 to $US30 million (around R484,597,200) in 2019. After the 2019 tournament, FIFA President Gianni Infantino promised to "at least double" the prize pot for the 2023 edition.
The reigning FIFA World Cup champions, the U.S. women's national team, remain the favourites for 2023. In 2019 the team celebrated winning equal pay with the U.S men's team. In a deal with the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF), the U.S. women’s team was awarded the same compensation and benefits as their male counterparts. While this is not the first instance of pay parity in soccer — with at least five other countries including Australia and Ireland already having reached equal pay deals with their national soccer teams — this deal is the first equal-pay deal in soccer that equalizes FIFA prize money. A huge W for the U.S women’s team.
There’s no doubt that Banyana Banyana are heavyweights in soccer on the African continent. What is in contention is the support they are receiving locally: as it stands, only Mamelodi Sundowns offers its players the means to solely focus on their soccer careers. This investment has paid off in them being the champions of the inaugural Confederation of African Football (CAF) league this year.
The argument is that women’s soccer requires more sponsorship, and that sponsorship stems from getting more people at their games. Of course, it takes a nation to support a national team, and the tide is turning in favour of women’s soccer. In a recent interview on Metro FM, Andile ‘Sticks’ Dlamini, Banyana Banyana’s goalkeeper and CAF’s ‘Goalkeeper of the Year’, noted that fandom for women’s soccer was steadily improving and that young people were their main supporters. The interest is growing globally for women’s soccer and sponsorship inevitably follows. Women have proven themselves as athletes, and are displaying excellence at the highest levels of the game — it’s simply a matter of time until everyone catches up.
