Mathew Ryan among the latest names to pledge support for #BreakTheChain

Australian Socceroos and Brighton & Hove Albion goalkeeper Mathew Ryan, along with China PR’s women’s team captain Wu Haiyan and India and Kerala Blasters’ defender Sandesh Jhingan, are the latest names featured in the new #BreakTheChain video.

#BreakTheChain is the campaign that has continued to highlight the need to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Millions of fans have been engaged through the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) series since its launch on 26th March 2020, with close to 100 Asian players and officials offering messages of solidarity in the public awareness campaign and ensuring we stand by the World Health Organisation’s guidelines.

“All of us need to show strength in these difficult times. We have all seen how this outbreak has impacted so many lives, but all of us have it within ourselves to break the chain,” said Mat Ryan – one of Asia’s finest goalkeepers who has featured in the last two editions of the FIFA World Cup for the Socceroos and part of the AFC Asian Cup title on home soil in 2015.

“Our healthcare professionals are our greatest source of inspiration at the moment and we must continue to support them.

“This is a crucial time for the world to unite, to showcase the best of humanity and ensure the safety and wellbeing of our families, our neighbours, our communities and our future generations by preventing the spread of this virus.”

Wu Haiyan, who skippered the Steel Roses in the Canada 2015 and France 2019 editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is another player who has shared her message.

“Football has changed my whole life. As all footballers, we miss the days when football was around. We are facing unprecedented and difficult times, but there are still many heroes working around the clock in service to others, so we need to offer our strength towards assisting them,” she said.

“I am glad to offer my voice as one of the Asian footballers. Not only for ourselves and our families, but for the football world, follow the advice of medical experts and local medical authorities. We need to be united and defeat our common opponent. Let’s break the chain together!”

The AFC’s #BreakTheChain campaign has brought together some of Asia’s finest from all across the continent. It proves there’s a huge wave of support and generosity demonstrated by the ever-growing initiatives undertaken by the AFC Member Associations, NGOs and various stakeholders in Asian football.

You can find a link to the latest #BreakTheChain video here: https://www.the-afc.com/videos/afc-s-breakthechain-campaign-x7895

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Liam Watson is the Co-Founder & Publisher of Soccerscene. He reports widely on football policy, industry matters and technology.

2023 FIFA review underlines incredible Women’s World Cup impact

FIFA has released their ‘2023 Financials in Review’ statement which highlights the incredible financial and cultural impact of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup heavily contributed to FIFA’s television broadcasting success with the body’s revenue total reaching AU$408.4 mil. The coverage was exceptional with the tournament being shown in over 200 territories by 130 broadcasters and in all other markets thanks to the FIFA+ platform. In order to provide for the ever-growing popularity of the women’s game, FIFA has adapted its media rights sales strategy by taking a more comprehensive and detailed approach to the market.

The skyrocketing television audiences have been replicated on FIFA’s digital platforms. Traffic in the tournament surpassed the entirety of the 2019 tournament within 12 days, welcoming 22 million unique users, with an average of 2.4 million users visiting FIFA Women’s World Cup channels daily.

The biggest source of income was the sale of marketing rights from commercial partnerships, which delivered AU$697 million, more than 101% over budget. FIFA successfully renewed record long-term partnerships with Hyundai/Kia, Qatar Airways and Visa to cover the Women’s World Cup and 2026 Men’s World Cup. A total of 30 sponsors signed up for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, up from 22 in the 2019 edition and they were duly rewarded for that.

Hospitality rights and ticketing sales for the FIFA Women’s World Cup amounted to AU$65.7 million, another record that the tournament smashed.

FIFA benefited from a strong demand for ticket and hospitality packages for this unique tournament, which also set a new Women’s World Cup record with nearly two million tickets sold, smashing their target of 1.5 million that was set in 2019 after the previous edition.

The average attendance rate across the tournament’s 64 matches was 87% with the highest crowd being 75,784 fans packed into a sold-out Stadium Australia to watch the Spain-England final.

Football Australia and the subsequent State federations all have the same focus in terms of making sure they successfully leverage the home World Cup and surpass their KPI’s.

In Football Australia’s One Football Framework, it states that they want to ‘reshape the game for Women and Girls’ which will start by aligning their digital and data strategies to be more focused on women which is similar to FIFA’s successful approach.

Recently the ‘Play our way’ program shows the government’s commitment with them providing $200 million in grants to improve sporting facilities for women and girls around Australia in the hopes to create a solid base for future growth.

The Legacy ’23 investments into Football that will amount to AU$296 million, will be key in maintaining growth and talent development as the A-Leagues sort out issues with professionalism and club finances that are affecting both the Men’s and Women’s game.

The success of the recent u20’s Young Matildas Asian Cup can’t be underestimated either in terms of the bright future this country is showing. A third place finish and bronze medal was the best ever finish from a Young Matildas side in the competition, with the squad featuring four players under the age of 18, one of the youngest in the competition.

These statistics by FIFA show that women’s football is experiencing a surge of interest and recognition, and the framework set out by Football Australia can ensure that is success is sustained long-term and positively affects participation at grassroots level.

The serious waves Series Futsal have made and what it means for the sport

Football within Victoria in a broad sense is difficult to unpack from multiple angles. What is clear is the passion displayed by fanatics.

Although not a traditional form of football, it’s cousin futsal has slowly emerged as a popular indoor sport that has abundance of opportunity within Australia’s major futsal organisation, Futsal Oz.

Futsal Oz has been the manifestation of the football extraordinaire Peter Parthimos, who founded the entity in 2006. When discussing with Peter in regards to why he created Futsal Oz, he discussed how he wished to unify people, provide competitive competitions to those who played the sport, all the while providing opportunity to those who want to play on a leisurely level all the way to a professional level.

Despite having a turbulent tenure throughout the global pandemic in 2020. Futsal Oz came out of Covid-19 with a newly furbished Futsal court fit for its most talented players. The court resides in their Thomastown location. Series Futsal is currently the highest level of futsal across the country and features abundance of Australia’s most coveted football players.

Melbourne-owned Sport Recreational Wear manufacturer AKU is a proud partner, with many women’s and men’s series sides opting to use AKU as a kit sponsor. The company also designed and created kits which were featured in the monthly major event in Thomastown, combining the best players across the Series Futsal competition to represent their respective ethnicities. The event was broadcasted on FireTv, a subsidiary to American-Bulgarian Company TrillerTv, who specialise in combat and European Sport streaming. Melbourne born Commentator Michael Schiavello spearheaded the broadcast acting as executive producer.

Each Wednesday and Friday the competitions are streamed live via YouTube and its independently ran application “Wefroth”, allowing its humble yet passionate fanatics to watch each round of Series Futsal unfold.

Through the running of competitions and the opportunities it sets through broadcast, futsal is in a healthy position.

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