FIFPRO Asia/Oceania has published a report evaluating players’ experiences in the 2023/24 AFC Women’s Club Championship (AWCC).
The report, “Lessons from the AFC Women’s Club Championship,” compiles insights from 88 players across the eight clubs that participated in last season’s invitational tournament, representing teams are from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, India, and Iran. This competition acted as a precursor to the 2024/25 AFC Women’s Champions League, which kicked off on Sunday.
The report offers an in-depth look at players’ careers, backgrounds, and experiences in Asia’s continental club competition, while also analysing critical factors like professional status, pay, and working conditions.
The report also evaluates the AWCC format, scheduling, finances, and the 2024 AWCC final, providing crucial insights as the AFC Women’s Champions League prepares for its inaugural season.
Player Profile
FIFPRO Asia/Oceania serves as the sole international collective voice for professional footballers across Asia and Oceania, representing over 6,000 players through its 12 member unions.
Just 62% of these players identified as ‘Professional,’ while 32% classified themselves as ‘Semi-Professional,’ and 6% as ‘Amateur.’
While these labels are somewhat subjective, the survey revealed the real-life experiences of female players in Asian clubs:
- One quarter (25%) reported that football was not their main source of income.
- Fewer than half (42%) earned over $10,000 annually from football.
- Less than a third (32%) committed at least 20 hours per week to football.
- Fewer than a third (30%) reported receiving extra salary or bonuses for participating in the AWCC.
Players who aren’t full-time professionals must juggle football with other jobs, studies, or family duties. Only 9% of players reported that the AWCC didn’t interfere with their domestic football or other life commitments.
For the 16% who said the competition affected their non-football employment, it may have led to financial losses due to their participation in the tournament.
When AFC competitions, like the AWCC, interfere with domestic league schedules—as they did for 51% of players—the rescheduled domestic matches add to the difficulties female players face in managing their multiple commitments.
This doesn’t imply that Asian women players should be excluded from continental competitions; 85% of players from the 2023-24 AWCC expressed a desire to participate again. Players are eager to challenge themselves at the highest level and are willing to make sacrifices for the opportunity.
Working Conditions
All players rated the standard of accommodation as either somewhat good (46%) or very good (54%).
However, a quarter of players reported that local transport was either somewhat poor (20%) or very poor (7%), and 17% described the high-performance facilities as inadequate.
Several players from Group B in Tashkent noted that the accommodation was too distant from the playing arena.
Players who rated the facilities and transport as poor were most often from Incheon Hyundai Steel Red Angels (South Korea) or Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan). Conversely, those who rated them as very good were more likely to come from FC Nasaf (Uzbekistan), Bangkok WFC (Thailand), and Hualien (Taiwan).
These varying perceptions likely reflect the differences in expectations between the top women’s leagues in Asia and less advanced domestic competitions.
Reflecting on the report’s findings, FIFPRO Asia/Oceania Chair Takuya Yamazaki stated via press release:
“The AFC’s unilateral decision-making must change to ensure the success of continental competitions. We continue to recommend a genuine partnership between professional footballers, clubs, leagues, and the AFC, which is crucial to unlocking the potential of Asian football.”
Kathryn Gill, FIFPRO Global and Asia/Oceania board member, former Australia international, and 2010 AFC Women’s Player of the Year, said via press release:
“Whilst the potential of the women’s game in Asia is immense, we must ensure it is developed in a way that is responsive to the lived realities illustrated in this report. This can only occur through establishing a genuine partnership between the AFC, leagues, clubs and players, and not through unilaterally overlaying regulations that are fit for men’s competitions onto female competitions.”
Three Key Recommendations To Enhance Competitions
A Collaborative Approach to Decision-Making
Eighty-one percent of surveyed players who took part in the AWCC believe that players should have more influence on AFC decisions, including those related to structure, scheduling, and financial aspects.
Higher Minimum Standards
AFC Women’s Champions League regulations should protect players from poor conditions and use the tournament’s influence to encourage professionalism throughout the continent.
Increased Visibility and Commercial Opportunity
As the commercial potential of women’s football continues to expand, the AFC needs to invest in boosting the visibility of women’s continental club competitions.
To read the full report in its entirety, click here.
