Female fans defy SKorea odds
Women make up 55% of crowds at sporting events in patriarchal nation, according to ’22 estimate
SEOUL, South Korea — Each time the South Korean men’s soccer team scored against Singapore during a recent World Cup qualifier, the roar from the home crowd came largely from women, who held nearly two-thirds of the tickets to the match.
In the Seoul stadium that November day, a billboard-size banner for star striker Son Heung-min had been made by a womenonly group. A banner for one of his teammates — “Cho Gue-sung wins the day” — had been signed by a club called “Women Rooting for Cho Gue-sung’s Pursuit of Happiness.”
The scene illustrated a fact that has puzzled experts in one of the world’s most patriarchal societies: In sports, South Korean women generally outnumber men in the stands.
Women here make up 55% of fans at professional sporting events, including baseball, basketball, soccer and volleyball, according to a 2022 estimate by the Korea Professional Sports Association. Similar estimates for major sports in the United States put the figure at less than half for women. In Britain and Australia, that number drops to a quarter or less.
Fans and sports experts attribute South Korea’s high rate of female fandom partly to the sense of security at the country’s sports venues. Others say it’s influenced by a fan culture powered by intense worship of stars, who are in some cases heartthrobs.
“People don’t think of the players as athletes, but as celebrities,” said Yim Subin, 24, who attends games and fan meet-ups, and watches baseball on TV every day of the season. “It’s not much different from the way K-pop fans follow their idols.”
In South Korea, where sports like baseball and soccer were introduced in the late 19th century, pro leagues were a product of brisk economic growth that began in the 1960s and created a large middle class. The leagues matured in tandem with the hosting of major international competitions, including the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 men’s World Cup.
One explanation for South Korea’s high rate of female fandom is that its arenas are safe places to watch a game. A growing number of venues now offer family-friendly amenities, including children’s playrooms.
In that atmosphere, fighting and other expressions of hooliganism are increasingly rare, said Cho Yijin, a postdoctoral researcher at Yonsei University in Seoul.
“There’s less smoking, drinking and swearing than before,” she said. “There’s a friendlier vibe.”
The rise of global interest in South Korean films, dramas and music over the past decade or so has created a passionate fan base around celebrities whose success is seen as a mark of national pride.
Female fans travel across the country to attend games, send coffee trucks to practice as a show of support and snap photos of players with powerful zoom lenses from front-row seats.
The teams’ marketing departments have noticed. There is no shortage of merchandise for women, including jerseys and headbands. And in the country’s top soccer league, the team Daejeon Hana Citizen hosts an amateur “Queen’s Cup” for its female fans.