As part of International Women's Rights Day, the Ligue de Football Professionnel, alongside its partners and the Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT clubs, is celebrating female spectators in the stadiums by engaging with the Her Game Too organization.
Born in the United Kingdom, based in France since 2022, the Her Game Too association's mission is to raise awareness among the general public about the fight against sexism in the stands, in favor of greater inclusion in sport. This awareness is achieved through the implementation of actions done in concert with clubs and institutions with their fanbasese, their players, and their training centers – all aimed at making stadiums a welcoming place for everyone.
Around the symbolic day of March 8, professional football and Her Game Too France join forces to promote the place of female spectators in stadiums and combat sexism in football. In this context, the 25th round of Ligue 1 Uber Eats and the 28th round of Ligue 2 BKT will be entirely dedicated to promoting female supporters in the stadiums.
To support this campaign and highlight the supporters of Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT, the LFP and Her Game Too have produced an awareness film entitled “Le Siège”, which features supporters of the Her Game Too group and extras who are football fans.
Through this authentic film, which brings together women supporters, the objective is to change mentalities and to emphasize that women have as much place in the stands as men, in order to encourage them to come and take their place through the slogan: “Because the 12th man can also be a woman: Celebrating Female Fans”
In the stadiums, numerous activations will be implemented throughout the weekend of March 8. The film "Le Siège" will be broadcast on the big screens of all Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT stadiums, while the announcer of each home club will speak about this campaign to raise public awareness. As they enter the pitch, the 22 players in each match will be accompanied by female mascots, just before the ceremonial kick-offs of the matches are taken by girls. Finally, ballgirls will be deployed around the pitch to assist the players throughout the weekend.
In order to best celebrate the supporters of Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT, the delivery of all the balls to the nine pitches will be orchestrated by Uber Eats, title sponsor of Ligue 1, will be made exclusively by women. Furthermore, Capifrance, real estate partner of the LFP, has invited 34 of its advisors to attend the matches of this round of league play.
With a view to raising awareness among as many people as possible, the official broadcasters of Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT will also be mobilized alongside the LFP and Her Game Too by highlighting the association's ambassadors on the sidelines of the matches.
A broad digital communications plan across all Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT platforms will be deployed throughout the weekend of March 8, including a large number of the LFP's partners.
Among the home clubs this weekend, OGC Nice, Paris Saint-Germain, RC Lens, RC Strasbourg Alsace, Stade Rennais FC, Le Havre AC, FC Lorient, Amiens SC, AC Ajaccio, US Concarneau and USL Dunkerque have programmed additional measures for women. Partners of Her Game Too, LOSC Lille, Toulouse FC, AS Saint-Étienne, AJ Auxerre, ESTAC Troyes and FC Girondins de Bordeaux will highlight the association and their supporters through numerous initiatives implemented during the next matches of the season.
This campaign is part of a positive trend in attendance at Ligue 1 Uber Eats and Ligue 2 BKT stadiums and a growing proportion of women in attendance at matches over the past 10 years. From 11% in 2013, the female share of the fanbase has increased to 17% in 2022 (source – Nielsen Sports study October 2022).
Far from clichés, this same survey highlights that the three main motivation criteria for women to go to the stadium are identical to those of men: supporting your club, experiencing the event in real life and sharing the atmosphere of the stadium.
Furthermore, a second study, carried out each year with Ipsos since 2008, shows that women's interest in football has never been so high in France. According to this season's data, which comes from a survey conducted in November-December 2023, 11.4M women are now interested in football, a figure up 1.6M in 1 year. Football even became women's favorite sport for the first time.
Women now represent 40% of those interested in football, a figure up three points in one year and the highest share ever recorded.
Interest in the French top flight has also reached a record level with more than one in four women saying they are interested in Ligue 1 Uber Eats (26%) or 8.2M interested, a figure up by 1.9M in one year.
All this translates into a record number of supporters: 6.3M women now support a Ligue 1 Uber Eats or Ligue 2 BKT club (+0.9M in one year).
