The next goal: chasing the full potential of sport for good
by Vinicius Ayres
The 9th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in 2023, and it marks a big milestone on the road to ending gender stereotypes and promoting equal opportunities in the sports world. The Women’s World Cup has always been an important event since its creation in 1991, but its 2023 edition was marked with record-breaking numbers in terms of spectators and revenue. According to data provided by FIFA, the event generated 570 million dollars, the second-highest income in any sports event. While we revel in these successes, there remains a significant opportunity to use this event and upcoming mass sporting events to advance systemic changes in the sports ecosystem around inclusion, sustainability, and equality.
We spoke with Kelly Davies, Ashoka Fellow and former football player, about what the 2023 World Cup has brought to the table and the long work that remains to be done to achieve real gender equality in sports.
The headlines to celebrate that were never mentioned
Cited as the most internationally inclusive women’s sporting event, breaking viewership and attendance records, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup made headlines for its misogynistic scandals, spurring a Spanish #metoo movement. Kelly Davies opened up the conversation with a reminder of the headlines most of us never heard about — a series of firsts that showcase how sports can become a platform for social impact.
“You can’t be what you can’t see”
In our conversation, we talked about role models in sports, their importance to kids and how it motivates them to their objectives, whether in practicing sports or pursuing a career. Kelly spoke of how when she was a kid, she didn’t have these role models to look up to, and that made her nearly drop out of football. But then, looking at the present day, we have Alex Morgan from the United States, Sam Kerr from Australia, Lucy Bronze from the United Kingdom, Alexia Putellas from Spain, Marta from Brazil, the list goes on.
Their success and visibility in the sport inspire young girls to pursue their passion for football and demonstrate that women can excel in the sport at the highest level. but that’s just the beginning, it will require an ongoing effort and collaboration to create lasting change.
This includes more visibility for women in sport, but also greater representation in governing bodies of sport associations.
Moving forward
These mentioned achievements are significant steps towards what we can hope is a more equal and welcoming place for women in sports. However, they shouldn’t be used to hide the problems and challenges that need to be faced and solved going forward. Even though the 2023 Women’s World Cup generated the second-highest income of any sports event, its prize pool was 450 million dollars shorter than the 2022 Men’s World Cup, something that is in no way consistent with the results in viewership and revenue generated by the event.
Spain’s World Cup title was also marked with controversial and misogynistic actions taken by the Spanish Football Federation, from multiple controversies surrounding the Spanish coach, to the Spanish Football Federation president’s forced kiss.
So, what’s next in the world of sports for social change? Highlighting the power of sports, Kelly talked about the creation of a collaborative ecosystem, where everyone, including brands, clubs, teams, organizations, and more, play a part. It is important to leverage these moments where everyone’s eyes are on sports and changemaker athletes to share and elevate new narratives. Fans and viewers, Kelly mentioned, can also be encouraged to take action, using these catalytic sporting moments to build understanding of these complex challenges and offer them ways to get involved. Moments such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup are when social entrepreneurs and their solutions in sports for impact can truly shine.
There isn’t just one action to be taken, there is a series of them, and we need to start putting them into practice right now.
A Changemaking Innovation
For some inspiration, let’s turn to the example of CONMEBOL, South America’s Football Confederation. Since 2019, every club aiming to play in the Copa Libertadores- South America’s most important football tournament- must also have a female team. What initially seemed like an obligation for some teams proved to be a great opportunity to invest in and raise the popularity of women’s football in Latin America. This has created a space for fighting the roots of misogyny, ending the stereotype that football is a “man’s game”. Corinthians, a club from São Paulo, Brazil, has proven to be a great ally in leading this fight for equality in football and sports in general.
Sport Club Corinthians female team, which was deactivated in 2009, was reactivated in 2016 following the establishment of CONMEBOL’s rule, ever since then, it became the world’s 3rd best female football team. The team has also been greatly embraced by the fans, breaking live spectator records and causing the start of a movement by the male and female team supporters called Respeita as Minas (Respect the Girls), that focuses on defending female players against misogynistic practices inside and outside the game. By creating more space for women to play, more investments are being made which motivates and facilitates athletes and young girls to follow their dreams and pursue a career in sports.
Sports are a platform for making social change, however, just as Kelly mentioned, what is needed is radical collaboration, where everyone comes together to create a long-lasting change.
This article is shared by the Ashoka Sport for Changemaking Initiative, a global program that harnesses Ashoka’s 40+ years of expertise in social entrepreneurship and innovation to work with sports changemakers, policymakers, and industry experts to activate a sports ecosystem where every person is a powerful contributor to positive social impact. Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date with Ashoka’s Sport for Changemaking initiative.
