Women’s football in boom phase

– The six-goal final of the women’s football Euro in the Netherlands put a fine topping on a tournament proving the sport is growing, with record attendance and TV rating figures as the hosts won the trophy by beating Denmark 4-2 in the final on Sunday.

A growth in the number of teams to 16 from a previous 12 raised overall attendance to more than 240 000 people, up from 217 000 four years ago – with all Dutch games sold out, Uefa said.

“We did wonder how big the tournament would be. We knew it would depend on how we performed, but we could hardly have dreamed it would be this big,” said Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman (pictured).

The final drew a crowd of 28 000, much less than

Enschede

in 2013, but fans attributed this to the limited capacity of the Enschede arena.

Television ratings grew as well, and “record women’s Euro audiences have been achieved in many markets, including the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom,” Uefa said in a press release before the final.

Newcomers Austria, who made it to the semifinals alongside England, sparked a women’s football fever in their country, with millions watching the games and a thousand fans showing up for a triumphant welcome in front of Vienna’s city hall.

Women’s football can hardly compete with men’s in terms of money – a survey published this week put the tournament budget at eight €8 million compared with €300 million for the men’s Euro 2016.

The survey found 50% of the women players were not paid by their clubs, and 35% of national team players received no remuneration.

But the trend may soon change – in the United States, protesting women players made their federation agree to a deal raising their wages sharply earlier this year. –