Future Shown by European Team, The ‘Front Line’ of Women’s Socce
Future Shown by European Team, The ‘Front Line’ of Women’s Soccer… Enviable ‘Commercialization Strategy’
Deloitte report released... In the 2022-2023 season, 15 European teams earned an average of 6.2 billion won, taking advantage of the characteristics of "women"s teams" and signing various sponsorship contracts... Realization of ‘commercialization’ emphasized by FIFA
Women"s soccer star Ji So-yeon (33) left the domestic stage.
The last words Ji So-yeon, who joined Seattle Reign (USA) on the 25th, left at her official appearance in Korea were "bitter words" about her unemployed soccer team, the WK League.
Ji So-yeon, who as president of the Korea Professional Footballers" Association has emphasized the need to expand the competitiveness of the WK League, said at the Korea Women"s Football Federation awards ceremony last month, "Everything needs to change from top to bottom."
Will she be able to achieve the quantitative and qualitative growth of the league that Ji So-yeon hopes for?
FIFA believes that the growth of the women"s league depends on the presence or absence of a "commercialization strategy".
This means that we must establish a strategy to introduce the value contained in women"s sports and persuade the market.
The report released on the 26th (Korean time) by Deloitte, a global accounting and consulting company, surveyed European clubs that are the "front line" of women"s soccer and contains their success stories.
Deloitte revealed the income status of 15 teams in five European women"s soccer leagues (England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal).
The average income of these clubs in the 2022-2023 season is 4.3 million euros (about 6.23 billion won).
Sales increased by 61% compared to the previous season (2.6 million euros).
Income was largely analyzed into three parts.
Commercial income such as sponsorship and partnerships (58%), home game income (22%), and broadcasting income (20%).
Spain"s Barcelona women"s team earned the highest income (13.4 million euros) among European teams.
The increase in income compared to the previous season was also the largest at 74%.
The brand value jumped by winning the league title for four consecutive seasons in the 2022-2023 season and also reaching the top spot in the UEFA Women"s Champions League for the second time.
Among the women"s teams whose "weight class" has grown, some have secured powerful companies as their own sponsors.
Barcelona is sponsored by Italian cosmetics brand Rillasteel.
Arsenal of the English Women"s Super League (WSL) has Stella McCartney (fashion) as its sponsor, and Chelsea has Lindals (dairy) as its sponsor.
Manchester City was also the first in England to sign a naming sponsorship contract for its home stadium with global baby products company Joy.
Deloitte"s analysis is that from a company"s perspective, it costs less than a men"s team and has the advantage of securing a new customer base of "women interested in soccer."
Deloitte predicts that women"s sports will generate more than 1.1 billion euros (about 1.6 trillion won) in revenue globally this year.
Among these, the sport expected to account for the largest proportion is women"s soccer.
With the creation of professional leagues and clubs around the world, it is expected that revenue of more than 500 million euros will be generated.
Can the WK League take advantage of this ‘commercialization’ trend?
In a report released in August last year, FIFA classified the WK League as lacking a commercialization strategy.
Among the 34 leagues, there are six, including the WK League, Chile, and Tanzania, that do not have such a strategy and do not generate TV broadcasting revenue.
Korea, along with Morocco, Nigeria, and Tanzania, were among the four countries with less than one sponsoring company per individual team.
According to this report, each club around the world has an average of eight sponsors.
The fields are diverse, including travel, education, healthcare, finance, and distribution.
Women"s soccer in Korea, which has difficulty broadcasting on TV or securing viewers, has virtually no income from home games.
Ji So-yeon, who won numerous championship trophies at Chelsea, wore the Suwon FC uniform in the 2022 season, but analysis from the field shows that attention to the WK League and the team has still fallen.
Suwon FC began accepting paid spectators for the first time in the league with the signing of Ji So-yeon.
Afterwards, the average paid audience was only 102 in 2022 and 218 in 2023.
The club said, "Ji So-yeon came, but no outside party has ever inquired about a sole sponsor or partnership agreement for the women"s team," and conveyed the reality that women"s soccer is not perceived as attractive to companies.
The situation is not much different for Incheon Hyundai Steel, which has achieved the feat of 11 consecutive losses and is recognized as a strong team on the Asian stage, and has the highest brand value in the league.
Hyundai Steel has signed a partnership with sports brand Umbro in 2022, but it is known that there are no other sponsors of note.
Choi Sun-ho, general manager of Suwon FC, said, "It wouldn"t be great if each team had one or two stars like Ji So-yeon, but if you look at the reality of the WK League, it"s not even at the level to start discussing commercialization."
He added, "Hardware such as stadiums, training grounds, and youth systems, and software such as support staff and training programs."
“They are all lacking,” he pointed out.
The WK League was launched in 2009, a year earlier than the WSL, which has developed into the world"s best level of commercialization and performance.
Unlike other leagues where "two jobs" were essential for most players, the stable environment in which they can focus solely on soccer as a member of a business team has been cited as an advantage.
However, it is interpreted that the gap between leagues continues to widen due to various structural difficulties such as a narrow base, as well as a situation where the league continues to deviate from the global commercialization trend.
According to FIFA, as of last year, the number of registered youth soccer players in Korea was about 1,600.
In England, there are more than 159,000 registered adolescents.