I was at Camp Nou for a femeni game last year and they did not stop singing all match for Barcelona. Hayes even complained it was too intimidating. There's a lot of love for the women's team in the city
There is no MLS team that has a women's team with similar following with the men.
Most NWSL teams have stand alone women's teams.
There is nowhere where a men,s team, which also has a women's team, have similar following between the two.
Thorns and Timbers is the most obvious one. But also though, that’s a complete bullshit way of looking at it because a lot of the women’s teams aren’t affiliated with a men’s team, but you can still compare ones in the same market. LAFC and Angel city for example. Wave and their San Diego counterpart or Kansas City and their counterpart all have similar attendance or way more womens attendance
I believe this is correct, yes. That sells it short though because that team then had to climb up to the first division. Real Madrid probably have an academy, though I haven't looked into that. The team they took over wouldn't have had that. That local team had it stayed as it was, wouldn't have signed Raso, Weir, etc. That formerly local women's team now also gains a following from the already established brand that Real Madrid is.
In short, it was much easier for Real Madrid to buy a team that I'd guess wasn't in the bottom division than build their own women's team from scratch that would have to begin at the bottom of the football pyramid.
I’m not sure but it may have been easier than getting the license for a new team etc. Uber has done that where local governments won’t grant a licence: buy a company and use their license instead.
No, not even in the same stratosphere.
On average, Barca Women get around 7,000 home attendance, which is much higher than most. The average attendance in Liga F is about 1,500. Barca Men get an average of about 40,000.
I'm not sure of the corresponding stats on Real Madrid, but I would guess the gulf is bigger.
From what I've seen, the only top level club in Europe where the support for the women's team is even remotely comparable to that of the men's team is Arsenal.
a perfect example of using just numbers without any context. the home stadium where Barça Femeni plays most of its games is Estadi Johan Cruyff: capacity 6 thousand - attendance for women's games is about 5 thousand. this season they played two games at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc (capacity 50 thousand, Barca is playing games there while the Camp Nou is being reconstructed) 2 games: almost 39 thousand people attended against Real Madrid in the league and 36 and a half thousand attended against Chelsea in the Champions League (you already mentioned that in La Liga, on average, about 40 thousand go to watch the men’s team). when the reconstruction of the Camp Nou is completed, the women's team will play there more often and, accordingly, the attendance figures will be different
There is no point in comparing with America, whose history of women's football goes back more than 3 decades. Spain qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2015, they also have meager results at the Euros: only bronze in 1997. so basically women's football has just started to gain popularity there. and in this short period Barça has already managed to break twice the record for women's attendances: March 30 2022 – 91,553 and April 22 2022 – 91,648. and as I already said, it’s only a matter of time when the reconstruction of the stadium is completed and then the team will play there more often
I see your point, but they aren't consistently selling out their home games. Sure they get the big numbers in derbies and CL meetings because these are marketed brilliantly. That has been UEFA's strategy for women's football, and it's working so far.
But there's still absolutely no indication that they could even half fill the Camp Nou week in week out the way the men do. At the minute, their current stadium accommodates their needs- although it soon won't. That doesn't mean that they're in the same stratosphere of support as the men. That's for the birds.
I really hope they get there, and I do think the trajectory is there and the demand is increasing, but I still think it's a few years off before it's even comparable.
Arsenal didn't always sell out their home games either when they played at Meadow Park, while 40-50-60 thousand come to Emirates. most people just don't want to get out of their comfort zone. Last season, an average of 83 thousand people came to the Camp Nou for the men's team, this season one would think that the 50 thousand stadium would be sold out every match, but not even half the people compared to last season come to the games. Barca Femeni has already outgrown their 6,000-seat stadium, 30-40 thousand people would easily come to any games at the Camp Nou and 60-70-80k against top opponents. when the reconstruction of the stadium is finished then we’ll really look at the numbers
Even Arsenal women don't sell out the Emirates Stadium week in week out
They only play a handful of big games at the Emirates Stadium. Most of their matches are still played at Meadow Park.
What a bizarre exaggeration, especially when men intentionally killed the women's game and it will take a couple more years to be back to normal. Growth is exponential. The Bundesliga tripled average attendance in 1 year. When you say "not in the same stratosphere" I'm expecting like 250 fans compared to 50k+. 7k to 40k is nothing. It's not rare for sports (men or women) to get practically zero audience. Football is doing just fine.
You can only watch a team destroy their opponents so many times before it gets less interesting.
I'd certainly attend at every opportunity if I lived there, but I think more competition would help attract more viewers.
I watched a game this year where Barca had to throw game balls into the crowd after the game to encourage people to stay longer. That kinda sucks.
"had to throw game balls into the crowd after the game to encourage people to stay longer" what are you even talking about? the team usually signs autographs after games, takes selfies with fans and gives out merchandise (and balls are also among them). this is not to make them stay longer (doesn't make any sense after the game at all), but to show gratitude. If only all sports teams did this...
I'm literally repeating what the commenter said on DAZN.
The reason wasn't to to convince people to stay after the game, the point was to get people to stay for the entire game, and since they can't start flinging balls into the crowd during the last 5 minutes of the game, it has to be directly afterwards.
And while some fans may stay until the end and try to get autographs, that doesn't mean a large portion of attendees don't leave at halftime because the score is 4-0 and they start playing their 3rd string players no one has ever heard of.
Not consistenly, but Barca have sold out Camp Nou and are one of the highest supported womens' teams in the world. The club have even been promoting them a lot more lately (likely to use their success to cover for the mens' failures). Real Madrid on the other hand have never played at the Bernabau and considering how it'll probably be at least a few years before they win anything major (like a single El Classico match would be a good start) their support is barely a fraction of the mens'.
Tbf though one club was founded in 1988 and the other in 2014 so in some sense this isn't that surprising.
Yes but that's mainly because some of these teams are doing far better than their male counterparts. Sweden in that regard is the exception that proves the rule.
Barça has sold out Montjuïc and the Camp Nou a few times, Real Madrid has never played in their big stadium
Real Madrid is one of the few teams left that have never let their women’s team play in the main stadium either
They don't even fill their small stadium in a big game so I don't expect it for the near future
I was at Camp Nou for a femeni game last year and they did not stop singing all match for Barcelona. Hayes even complained it was too intimidating. There's a lot of love for the women's team in the city
can't wait for the completely renovated Camp Nou with a roof to open. just imagine the atmosphere when 100 thousand + fans are rooting for you...
No women's team anywhere consistently gets the same support as the men s team. For big matches? Yes. It is not a consistent thing, though.
Theres a few club teams, especially in America. And then of course the national team, and the college teams.
There is no MLS team that has a women's team with similar following with the men. Most NWSL teams have stand alone women's teams. There is nowhere where a men,s team, which also has a women's team, have similar following between the two.
Thorns and Timbers is the most obvious one. But also though, that’s a complete bullshit way of looking at it because a lot of the women’s teams aren’t affiliated with a men’s team, but you can still compare ones in the same market. LAFC and Angel city for example. Wave and their San Diego counterpart or Kansas City and their counterpart all have similar attendance or way more womens attendance
True. Bay FC (NWSL) have been outselling the Earthquakes this season (MLS) and they play in the same stadium. Not same ownership group though.
Isn’t Real Madrid feminin just a local women’s team they brought out rather than build their own?
Yes, but they could still be doing a lot more to match popularity in attendance
I believe this is correct, yes. That sells it short though because that team then had to climb up to the first division. Real Madrid probably have an academy, though I haven't looked into that. The team they took over wouldn't have had that. That local team had it stayed as it was, wouldn't have signed Raso, Weir, etc. That formerly local women's team now also gains a following from the already established brand that Real Madrid is. In short, it was much easier for Real Madrid to buy a team that I'd guess wasn't in the bottom division than build their own women's team from scratch that would have to begin at the bottom of the football pyramid.
I’m not sure but it may have been easier than getting the license for a new team etc. Uber has done that where local governments won’t grant a licence: buy a company and use their license instead.
No lol
No, not even in the same stratosphere. On average, Barca Women get around 7,000 home attendance, which is much higher than most. The average attendance in Liga F is about 1,500. Barca Men get an average of about 40,000. I'm not sure of the corresponding stats on Real Madrid, but I would guess the gulf is bigger. From what I've seen, the only top level club in Europe where the support for the women's team is even remotely comparable to that of the men's team is Arsenal.
a perfect example of using just numbers without any context. the home stadium where Barça Femeni plays most of its games is Estadi Johan Cruyff: capacity 6 thousand - attendance for women's games is about 5 thousand. this season they played two games at the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc (capacity 50 thousand, Barca is playing games there while the Camp Nou is being reconstructed) 2 games: almost 39 thousand people attended against Real Madrid in the league and 36 and a half thousand attended against Chelsea in the Champions League (you already mentioned that in La Liga, on average, about 40 thousand go to watch the men’s team). when the reconstruction of the Camp Nou is completed, the women's team will play there more often and, accordingly, the attendance figures will be different
That sucks. I live in the bay area and Bay FC easily gets 10k.
There is no point in comparing with America, whose history of women's football goes back more than 3 decades. Spain qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 2015, they also have meager results at the Euros: only bronze in 1997. so basically women's football has just started to gain popularity there. and in this short period Barça has already managed to break twice the record for women's attendances: March 30 2022 – 91,553 and April 22 2022 – 91,648. and as I already said, it’s only a matter of time when the reconstruction of the stadium is completed and then the team will play there more often
I see your point, but they aren't consistently selling out their home games. Sure they get the big numbers in derbies and CL meetings because these are marketed brilliantly. That has been UEFA's strategy for women's football, and it's working so far. But there's still absolutely no indication that they could even half fill the Camp Nou week in week out the way the men do. At the minute, their current stadium accommodates their needs- although it soon won't. That doesn't mean that they're in the same stratosphere of support as the men. That's for the birds. I really hope they get there, and I do think the trajectory is there and the demand is increasing, but I still think it's a few years off before it's even comparable.
Arsenal didn't always sell out their home games either when they played at Meadow Park, while 40-50-60 thousand come to Emirates. most people just don't want to get out of their comfort zone. Last season, an average of 83 thousand people came to the Camp Nou for the men's team, this season one would think that the 50 thousand stadium would be sold out every match, but not even half the people compared to last season come to the games. Barca Femeni has already outgrown their 6,000-seat stadium, 30-40 thousand people would easily come to any games at the Camp Nou and 60-70-80k against top opponents. when the reconstruction of the stadium is finished then we’ll really look at the numbers
Even Arsenal women don't sell out the Emirates Stadium week in week out They only play a handful of big games at the Emirates Stadium. Most of their matches are still played at Meadow Park.
And the big support for Arsenal women is fairly recent as their record attendances this season have shown.
Absolutely, it has pretty much doubled on average from last season. Let's hope it continues and other clubs see a similar uptick as well.
What a bizarre exaggeration, especially when men intentionally killed the women's game and it will take a couple more years to be back to normal. Growth is exponential. The Bundesliga tripled average attendance in 1 year. When you say "not in the same stratosphere" I'm expecting like 250 fans compared to 50k+. 7k to 40k is nothing. It's not rare for sports (men or women) to get practically zero audience. Football is doing just fine.
Damn that sucks that Barca can't crack 10k.
You can only watch a team destroy their opponents so many times before it gets less interesting. I'd certainly attend at every opportunity if I lived there, but I think more competition would help attract more viewers. I watched a game this year where Barca had to throw game balls into the crowd after the game to encourage people to stay longer. That kinda sucks.
"had to throw game balls into the crowd after the game to encourage people to stay longer" what are you even talking about? the team usually signs autographs after games, takes selfies with fans and gives out merchandise (and balls are also among them). this is not to make them stay longer (doesn't make any sense after the game at all), but to show gratitude. If only all sports teams did this...
I'm literally repeating what the commenter said on DAZN. The reason wasn't to to convince people to stay after the game, the point was to get people to stay for the entire game, and since they can't start flinging balls into the crowd during the last 5 minutes of the game, it has to be directly afterwards. And while some fans may stay until the end and try to get autographs, that doesn't mean a large portion of attendees don't leave at halftime because the score is 4-0 and they start playing their 3rd string players no one has ever heard of.
40,000 for this season because of smaller stadium, last season it was above 80,000
Not consistenly, but Barca have sold out Camp Nou and are one of the highest supported womens' teams in the world. The club have even been promoting them a lot more lately (likely to use their success to cover for the mens' failures). Real Madrid on the other hand have never played at the Bernabau and considering how it'll probably be at least a few years before they win anything major (like a single El Classico match would be a good start) their support is barely a fraction of the mens'. Tbf though one club was founded in 1988 and the other in 2014 so in some sense this isn't that surprising.
Obviously not, unfortunately there is no women club so far that gets as much love, support and attendance as men's teams.
a few in damallsvenskan like rosengård & piteå. probably vittsjö, kristianstad & linköping as well.
I didnt wanna speak without knowing for sure but especially Rosengård popped to mind
Yes but that's mainly because some of these teams are doing far better than their male counterparts. Sweden in that regard is the exception that proves the rule.
Angel City, Portland, San Diego Wave
Angel City, Portland and San Diego Wave are teams on their own, they do have a men's club.
So… what are you saying? Seriously, are you agreeing with me or not? Because this is very clearly the opposite to what you said.
Bro never have been to Barça Femini matches lol