Looking for a specific women’s football research topic?
"Pass it to your girlfriend!": A collaborative autoethnography of a friendship through women's sports fandom
This study is a collaborative autoethnography that explores how women's sports fandom—particularly in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)—shapes personal relationships, identity, and community. The authors, both passionate fans, discuss their experiences of joy and frustration within women's sports spaces, particularly regarding issues of race, gender, and commercialization.
Understanding fan pressures and its impact on football club sustainability: insights from the Colombian context
This study examines how fan expectations and pressures impact the sustainability of Colombian football clubs, with a specific focus on economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Researchers surveyed fans from various Colombian clubs to analyze their influence on club management decisions.
Club Days at Scottish Women’s Football: SWPL Fan Engagement Report.
The report "Club Days at Scottish Women’s Football: SWPL Fan Engagement Report" provides an in-depth analysis of fan engagement in the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL). The study highlights the league’s rapid growth in attendance, media visibility, and commercial investment since its formation in 2022.
A Lot of Men Have Definitely Gotten Over the Whole ‘No One Wants to Watch Women’s Sports’ Thing”: Fan Perceptions of the Masculinization of Women’s Soccer Fandom
The article "A Lot of Men Have Definitely Gotten Over the Whole ‘No One Wants to Watch Women’s Sports’ Thing” by Rachel Allison and Radosław Kossakowski examines the growing presence of male fans in women’s professional soccer. Through interviews with 35 U.S. women’s soccer fans in 2019 and 2023, the study explores shifting perceptions of men’s engagement with the sport.
International Competitions, Star Players, and NWSL Attendance
The article "International Competitions, Star Players, and NWSL Attendance" by E. Frank Stephenson investigates factors influencing match attendance in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) from 2013 to 2019.
Team identification, motives, and behaviour: a comparative analysis of fans of men’s and women’s sport
The article "Team Identification, Motives, and Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of Fans of Men’s and Women’s Sport" explores differences and similarities in team identification, motivational drivers, and consumption behavior between fans of the England men’s and women’s national football teams.
The Compound Effect in Women’s Football
Visa UK has published a report of their insights from over 7,000 women's football fans. Their results are reported with recommendations included.
Stability and Change in Sports Fandom Over Time: A Longitudinal Study of U.S. Women’s Professional Soccer Fandom
This analysis makes a new contribution to the sociology of fandom and women’s sport by drawing from interviews with 35 U.S. adults who attended the 2019 Women’s World Cup and were re-interviewed after the 2023 Women’s World Cup to consider how and why fandom of U.S. women’s professional soccer develops over time.
“Dribbling” the hegemonic media: alternative press in the propagation of women’s soccer
This paper analyzes how alternative digital media proposes new ways of processing information and allows greater visibility to marginalized topics by the hegemonic press, rearranging meanings with mass media and consumers.
The Beginning of a Reckoning: An Application of Situational Crisis Communication Theory and Image Repair to the National Women’s Soccer League
The purpose of this study was to examine the crisis of systemic sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and misconduct in the NWSL within the frameworks of situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) and image-repair theory (IRT).
Sportscape variables and spectator satisfaction towards willingness to return to designated professional women’s soccer events
This study examines the spectator’s perceptions of distinctive variables of designated South African professional women's soccer stadium sportscape and their satisfaction leading to willingness to return for future matches, based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework from an emerging markets’ perspective.
Negotiating the status of women’s football in Norway. An analysis of online supporter discourses
In this article, they analysed how online supporters of men’s football view and discuss the status of women’s football in Norway.
Inclusive, inviting, inspiring: Insights into the experiences of women's football fans in Australia and Germany
This article surveyed fans located in Australia and Germany to explore perceived differences in the culture of women’s football.
The Football Association's Women’s Super League and female soccer fans: fan engagement and the importance of supporter clubs
A qualitative case study approach is utilized, via the use of semi-structured interviews to explore the demographics and motives of women who watch soccer at the elite level and their socialization into fan communities.
Match Experience at the Danish Women’s Soccer National A-Team Matches: An Explorative Study
Article exploring the experiences of those who attend Danish women’s league matches.
‘Women play football, not women’s football’: the potentials and paradoxes of professionalisation expressed at the UEFA women’s EURO 2022 Championship
Research on the experiences of the UEFA Women’s EUROS hosted in England in 2022.
‘Genuinely in love with the game’ football fan experiences and perceptions of women’s football in England
Women’s sport, and perhaps especially women’s football, in England has enjoyed much greater media visibility and support over the past decade. But we still know relatively little about the response of fans of men’s football to the rise of the women’s game and their views on attending it.