Source: FIGC press release
They made an entire country fall in love with them, raising interest in women’s football with an irresistible mix of goals and smiles. They celebrated each victory by dancing the ‘Macarena’, a nostalgic soundtrack of a summer with strong pink hues. They are the Blue of the Women’s National Team or better the #Girls World Cup to mention the successful communication campaign launched by the FIGC on the occasion of the French World Cup.
An exciting ride that saw Milena Bertolini’s Italy reach the quarter-finals, a modern tale whose ending has yet to be written. And to write it could be those little girls who, seeing the World Cup in front of the TV, became passionate about women’s football, asking their parents to be able to become the Sara Gama or Barbara Bonansea of ​​tomorrow . After France 2019 it is estimated, in fact, a strong increase in the number of requests for enrollment in women’s football schools. The impact of the World Cup on the Italian movement is highlighted in a document drawn up by the FIGC Study Center .
21 million Italians followed the women’s national team
Twenty-one million people followed the women’s national team during the world championship tournament(almost 90 thousand spectators saw the Italian matches live), a figure higher than that for the Under 21 European Championship (20.6 million) and which is close to the entire women’s World Cup (24.9 million) and the Men’s Serie A (30.2 million). After the World Cup, a real watershed, 34.1% of Italians declare that they are interested in women’s football , a figure that reaches 45.3% among Italians who follow football. Thanks to this boom and to be shared with the media, crucial in bringing women’s football into the homes of Italians. A leading role was undoubtedly played by Rai and Sky, who broadcast the World Cup reaching a total of 24.41 million viewers in the 5 matches played by Italy (average of 4.88 million per game), with an average share of 31.84%.
Over a thousand articles published in print and online newspapers
The record belongs to Italy-Brazil, the third match of the group and the first match in the history of the women’s national team to be broadcast on Rai 1: the 7.32 million viewers who followed the match with the Verdeoro national team(best result ever in our country for a women’s football match) exceeded the audience recorded during the other main football matches broadcast in Italy in the period June-July 2019, including the finals of the Women’s World Cup and the UEFA Nations League as well as the match of the Under 21 European Championship. The precious work carried out by the correspondents following the Azzurre should also be underlined, with over 1000 articles published in national newspapers in the period between 1 June and 10 July.
#RagazzeMondiali beat the United States
But the real explosion was on social media, also thanks to the communication campaign launched by the FIGC to accompany the event:#RagazzeMondiali was a trend topic that reached over 150,000 mentions, more than the hashtag dedicated to the winning national team (#USWNT – 138,000) and the motto of the FIFA World Cup (#DareToShine – 130,000) . The Women’s World Cup represented the second sporting event in Italy in terms of social interaction during live television and the social profile of the National Women’s team ranked 3rd in terms of overall engagement among Italian team sports. On the FIGC social networks, women represent 48.3% of the supporters of the Azzurri compared to 20% of the men’s national team.
The results achieved by the FIGC before and during the competition (29 May-8 July) represent a best practice compared to the results of the other 23 national teams present at the World Cup: a total of 191 thousand 982 new users registered on Instagram (104.082), Facebook ( 70,000) and Twitter (18,900). During the World Cup, the followers of the players also increased (Bonansea and Rosucci the most followed), while the 100 videos uploaded by the FIGC on YouTube reached a total of over 3 million views.
In addition to the best result in the history of Italy in a Women’s World Cup (Quarter-finals as in 1991), which earned 14th place in the FIFA ranking, France 2019 has therefore left a precious legacy made up of numbers and ‘likes’, a heritage that the FIGC does not want to disperse and to be exploited in the short and long term.
