Interestingly, WSL had attendances increase something like 250% after hosting (and winning) the Euros.
Maybe Australia won't have the same boost because they didn't win the WC, but they really did have a fudgeload of people attend the games. Convert even a small percentage into ALW regulars and you'll have a similar increase I'd say.
But it's also up to the clubs because frankly a lot have them have been piss poor with promotion in the past. Better promotion, better and less hard-to-access grounds, better broadcaster coverage and better kickoff times.
Maybe Australia won't have the same boost because they didn't win the WC, but they really did have a fudgeload of people attend the games. Convert even a small percentage into ALW regulars and you'll have a similar increase I'd say.
But it's also up to the clubs because frankly a lot have them have been piss poor with promotion in the past. Better promotion, better and less hard-to-access grounds, better broadcaster coverage and better kickoff times.
1. England won the Euros in a dramatic final verus arch rival Germany, and 2. England's players all predominantly play in the WSL
Sam Kerr and others like Mary Flower are the face of Australian's women's football. But the high profile Matildas like them are up in Europe. You also have a host of other top players at this WWC, playing in the English WSL.
The ALW will get a boost, but it will be less than what the Lionesses Euros win gave the WSL. 90% of the players in the ALW, most (male) football fans won't know, let alone the general Aussie sporting public. How many of us could name the players at a non Nix ALW club, aside from any Kiwis.
Double headers ALW & ALM at the one venue is a tricky one. You'd have to alternate mens & womens teams being the 'curtainraiser' and that might not always be so easy to match in with Paramount's scheduling etc.
But grassroots girls football (even boys) should get a massive boost in both countries next year. The beauty of having sporting heroes, and more active kids is always a good thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup_squads#Statistics
The A-League Women is a major provider of players to squads in the tournament - and not to the Matildas (only two A-League players) but more to other countries like the Ferns (11 players) and the Phillipines (4 A-League, 3 state league).
So a total of 20 players from Australian leagues (the table in the link above has it as 17 but they are ignoring the three state league players)
I've corrected this in the table below, also removing China, South Korea and Vietnam where all the players listed (or nearly all) come from that country's national team.
Australia thus becomes the ninth biggest provider of players to the tournament, behind only the seven top European leagues and the USA.
I would rank the A-League women as one of the top two or three in the AFC - the only real challenger is the new Japanese women's league.
I suspect that the other top leagues, South Korea and China actually aren't very strong.
Player representation by league system
League systems with 14 or more players represented are listed.
Country Players Players Outside National Squad
