Europe 1 with AFP 7:12 p.m., March 8, 2024

On the occasion of International Women's Rights Day on March 8, the French Football Federation publishes on Friday "the figures for women's practice" which have never been as important as this year.

As of March 7, 2024, the FFF has 247,160 women's licenses, a record and a figure "increase of 12% compared to last year at the same time. By category, women's football has + 12.4% of players, + 9.6% of managers and + 13.3% of arbitrators", specifies the body.

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In October, the president of the FFF Philippe Diallo announced that he wanted to double this figure in five years and increase the number of female licensees to 500,000.

“It’s ambitious but we can win this bet,” the president of “3F” thought at the time.

“38% of licensees are women”

In France and concerning all sports, "38% of licensees are women, or 12 points less", recalled Friday the Minister of Sports and Olympic Games Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

Philippe Diallo and Jean-Michel Aulas, his vice-president, a strong man in women's football within the body, announced in April a plan for the feminization of French football, including a 20 to 25% increase in allocations to destination for women's clubs, which represents between 4 and 5 million euros of annual investments on the part of the federation.

The budget devoted by the FFF to women's football this season is "15 million euros, including 7 million dedicated to the Professional Women's Football League", the body specified on Thursday.

An ambition to support the professionalization of women's football

Friday at the Ministry of Sports, Jean-Michel Aulas recalled his objective of "raising 30 to 40 million euros to support the professionalization of women's football", while Aurore Bergé, minister responsible for Equality between women and men, recalled that in 2024 women footballers would still earn “twelve times less” than men.

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The "3F" was recently able to be proud of having achieved, with 30,267 spectators, the highest attendance at home for a Les Bleues match outside the World Cup established at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon-Décines, on February 23, 2024 during the semi-finals. -Finals of the League of Nations against Germany (2-1).

900,000 additional supporters in one year

Also on the occasion of International Women's Rights Day, the Professional Football League (LFP) revealed Wednesday, in its annual image barometer carried out with Ipsos, that "football had become, for the first time, the sport favorite of women over tennis".

The LFP, for its part, recorded an increase of 900,000 additional supporters in one year, with 6.3 million women now declaring that they support a Ligue 1 or Ligue 2 club.