In the last fortnight, Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) released their annual A-League Women’s report, providing an overview of the current state of the women’s game at the highest level in Australia.
The association had previously earmarked this as their number one priority in the year prior, but have now doubled down – setting a timeline for implementation by the 2026-2027 season.
The timeframe has come from extensive feedback from stakeholders within the game, with the vast majority of players agreeing that action on this front must come sooner rather than later.
The report outlined in detail the difficulties players are having with the current part-time nature of the league – with most players not on 12-month contracts, minimum wages set at $25,000 and club salary caps sitting at $600,000 per season.
The representative body also highlighted the threat to the competition based on significant progress of other women’s sporting leagues here in Australia and more importantly overseas women’s football leagues.
“The global growth of women’s football presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the A-League Women,” PFA Co-Chief Executive Kate Gill stated.
“Our players recognise that the league must embrace full-time professionalism by 2026 to remain competitive on the global stage.
“Our league and club leaders must unite behind a new vision that drives professionalism, commercial growth, and investment.”
Competitions such as the UK Women’s Super League (WSL) and the US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), have continued to build their presence in the global landscape.
The WSL has had a 700% increase in attendances, since establishing themselves as a full- time professional league in 2018.
The NWSL has recently increased its salary cap by 40% to $4.1 million for the 2024 season, after securing a significant broadcast deal worth 40 times more than their previous one.
Alongside this, a new American professional league, the United Soccer League’s Super League (USLS) launched in August of this year – with plans underway to continue to expand the competition.
These developments will continue to affect the ALW’s ability to not only retain but also attract talent to the Australian competition, as player salaries and conditions continue to rise in overseas leagues.
Of the 106 foreign player transfers into the ALW since 2018, 63 were Americans. 46% of the imported players (across all nationalities) came directly from the NWSL. With professionalism and club standards continuing to reach greater heights in competitions in America, for example, the ALW may continue to fall behind and not be an attractive proposition for foreign players coming into our competition, but also for players already competing in the ALW.
According to 2023-2024 end of season surveys conducted by the association, ALW players have now rated the NWSL as the second most preferred league to play in, behind the WSL in the UK.
In the previous year, 56% of ALW players put the ALW ahead of the NWSL on their respective lists, but a year later only 41% of players did the same.
It’s a clear sign that these leagues overseas are offering superior opportunities for players, which the ALW needs to try to combat and minimise this impact immediately.
With full time professionalism in the Australian competition set as a clear goal by the PFA, the commercial viability of the league will be at the forefront of any discussions around this.
The ALW did increase their crowds organically in the past season by 72 percent (on the back of a Women’s World Cup on home soil) however the PFA believes there were still strategic missteps that could have led to even further growth.
Based on fan focus groups setup by the organisation, newly converted Matildas fans were ignorant to details about ALW teams and schedules – due to a lack of promotion to spectators who attended international matches.
With the Women’s Asian Cup also to be played in Australia in two years’ time, the same mistakes cannot be made and capitalising on these home tournaments is paramount.
The 2026 Women’s Asian Cup is set to be an important part of the PFA’s proposed professional relaunch of the A-League women’s competition, using the major tournament to enhance the leagues visibility.
Alongside this, the report claims that an improvement of the ALW’s match presentation is needed – from consistent match day experiences, to appropriate venues for games and better broadcast standards.
All of these factors should, alongside overall improvements to club environments, lead to an attractive product that may eventually reap commercial rewards in the future.
The question is however, will the next step of initial investment towards a professional full-time A-League Women’s competition be taken?
