Despite the majority not being interested in women’s football, they will be pleased if their national team wins the tournament
Sixteen national teams are in Switzerland ready to begin the Women's Euro 2025 football tournament, with the Lionesses hoping to defend their European title won in the 2022 competition. On the cusp of the contest, a YouGov EuroTrack survey conducted in Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain gauged people’s interest in the competition, and the all-important question of who people expect to raise the trophy on 27th July.
Interest in women’s football still lags behind the men’s game
Our poll finds that between 11% and 20% across the countries surveyed say they are very or fairly interested in women’s football, with this highest figure being found in Spain, Germany and France.
However, it is clear that interest in women’s football still has some way to go to reach parity with the men’s game: currently 32-40% across our six countries say they are interested in “football” in general.
Football is typically more of interest to men than women, and women’s football proves to be no exception, with men in each country being consistency more likely to say they have an interest in the sport than their female peers.
Among those who are very or fairly interested in football in general (who we describe hereafter as ‘football fans’), between 29% and 52% say they are interested in the women’s game, with French football fans being the most enthusiastic.
While there may be a significant amount of disinterest in women’s football, that is not the same as hostility to the sport.
If, instead of looking at comparative interest, we look at comparative emotion then we see a much more equal measure of esteem. Among the general population in most of the countries surveyed, the number who say they would be “pleased” if their women’s side won the Euros is close to the same level as it would be for the men’s side. Few (0-4%) would be actively displeased by a female victory, with most of the rest instead “indifferent” to the result.
Among football fans, pleasure would be an even more common sentiment to a win by the women’s team, and to generally the same extent as it is for the men’s team. The biggest difference is in England, with the number of England football fans who would react happily to the women’s team winning (76%) notably lower than the men’s team (91%).
How many people anticipate watching much of the 2025 women’s Euros?
Between 12-18% of adults in our EuroTrack countries say they expect to follow the tournament either “a great deal” or “a fair amount”, which is similar to or slightly less than polling before the 2023 women’s World Cup.
Among women’s football fans – those who say they are very or fairly interested in women’s football – between half and three quarters say they intend to follow much of the tournament, with Spain (77%), England (75%) and Italy (73%) having the most devoted fans.
Who do women’s football fans think will win the Euro 2025?
While few people across the nations surveyed have a view on who is likely to perform best at the 2025 women’s Euros, most women’s football fans do take a view. In almost every case, they are most likely to think it is that their own national team is going to win, but the extent of this belief varies widely.
In Spain, fully 77% of women’s football fans think ‘La Roja’ will emerge victorious, and indeed the Spanish side appear to be the tournament favourites in the betting markets, as well as in predictions made by sport data analysis company Opta’s ‘supercomputer’.
This compares to 55% of French and 52% of German fans thinking their own sides have the best odds. Incumbents England are less confident, with only 45% saying they expect the Lionesses to win two Euro tournaments in a row, while relatively few Italian (24%) or Danish (14%) women’s football fans are expecting to lift the trophy.
Photo: Getty
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