The majority of its fan base is projected to be female.
Women’s football is projected to see its global fanbase increase 38 percent by 2030, reaching more than 800 million people worldwide, according to a new report from Nielsen Sports in collaboration with PepsiCo. This trajectory would rank it among the world’s top five sports by 2030. In addition, its global broadcast audience is set to rise by 30 percent across major tournaments by 2030. Today, women’s football ranks as one of the top 10 most followed sports in the world.
The country with the largest proportion of women’s football fans by percentage of domestic population is currently Colombia, followed in the top 5 by United Arab Emirates (UAE), Mexico, Brazil, and India.
The new landmark study, titled Undervalued to Unstoppable, offers comprehensive information about women’s football accelerating global growth, audience profile and commercial power. PepsiCo commissioned Nielsen Sports to examine data from 2019 to 2025, with data inputs drawing from Nielsen Fan Insights, Nielsen Audience Data, Nielsen SponsorGlobe, bespoke PepsiCo research and practical factors (e.g. tournament hosting schedules).
Although just a small fraction of global sponsorship budgets is currently allocated to women’s football, brands are starting to react to the booming success of women’s football, explains the report. The number of sponsorship deals around the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which was held in Australia & New Zealand, was three times higher than in 2019.
