Record Optus Sport statistics backed up by immediate A-League Women support

Liam Watson
-League Women - Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers season 2023-24
Image credit: Mark Metcalfe

Following the memorable FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, supporters have already started to show that crowd and viewing numbers won’t dwindle down.

Optus Sport revealed their data and insights from the tournament, where they were the only place to see all 64 matches. During the four weeks of the World Cup, viewing figures and social media numbers rose at a considerable rate.

In a Women’s World Cup that saw the Matildas finish fourth, Optus Sport captured the substantial ratings generated.

Below are the findings as per Optus Sport:

  • Coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 delivered the highest total minutes streamed for a tournament in Optus Sport history – up 30% from minutes streamed for UEFA Euro 2022.
  • Biggest month ever in Optus Sport history for total minutes streamed – up 17% on previous record.
  • On average, Optus Sport customers watched more than 21 hours of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 coverage, with 75% viewing on TVs.
  • Three FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 matches are now in Optus Sport’s top five games of all time in terms of minutes streamed, with nine FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 matches now in the top 20 overall.
  • Over 100 million video views across all social platforms throughout the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
  • Over 4000 pieces of content created/published throughout the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
  • Optus Sport social platforms reached approximately 3.6 million Australians.
  • More than 400 articles covering the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 published throughout the tournament, achieving the highest ever monthly engagement in Optus Sport history, with 7 million reads.
  • Optus Sport FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Google Web Stories for the Matildas matches against France and England are the highest viewed Google Web Stories recorded in Australia.
  • Optus Sport experienced the biggest sign-up day ever in Optus Sport history.

Based on the start to the A-League Women’s season for 2023/24, the above numbers and figures are not a fluke.

After an off-season that saw Brisbane Roar, Canberra United, Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC all achieving their highest membership numbers ever, fans have begun to flock to games in a similar vein.

In opening round, Central Coast Mariners v Newcastle Jets was the record for the highest attendance for a standalone regular season Liberty A-League game, but that number was surpassed in the very next match by a Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers derby that welcomed 11,471 fans to Allianz Stadium.

This will build a fantastic platform for the Liberty A-League – one that features penalty-taking hero Cortnee Vine running around for Sydney FC each week.

Not only that, the relaxed atmosphere of matches will allow young fans to look up to their favourite players and get them aspiring for bigger and greater goals.

Clive Dickens, Optus VP Television, Content and Product Development, stated that Optus Sport will be continuing to drive the positive momentum and shine the light on the women’s game going forward:

“Optus Sport continues to invest in – and be a champion of – football in this country,” he said via media release.

“And the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 served up some of the most incredible action we’ve ever seen; to have this played out across Australia and New Zealand and to see the crowd’s reaction to these amazing athletes has been truly incredible.

“We are dedicated to growing women’s football – and football more broadly – in Australia. The results reinforce the audience’s appetite for our best-in-class content strategy that brings world-class commentary and access-all-areas content that you can’t get anywhere else.

“We’ll continue to shine a light on the world’s best footballers, including our very own Matildas Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, Mary Fowler, Alanna Kennedy, Clare Wheeler, Courtney Nevin, Lydia Williams, Teagan Micah, and Mackenzie Arnold.”

Sources:

  • QuickSight analytics, total minutes from all matches in OS history.
  • Emplifi, total video views across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube from July 20 to August 20, 2023
  • QuickSight analytics, total minutes streamed and paid account reach from July 20 to August 20, 2023
  • Google analytics and Apple News, total article views and unique reach from July 20 to August 20, 2023
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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

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Image credit: FiledIMAGE / Shutterstock.com

Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

The A-Leagues Final Series important status also a secret hinderance

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The Isuzu A-League finals series is a huge event in the footballing calendar, though its contribution to stagnant attendance numbers in the league is something to be said.

If the 2025/26 finals series follows similar patterns to those before it, it will gather huge traction and strong ticket sales.

It is the largest event for the domestic league, bringing in massive amounts of viewership through media and gate receipts.

Finals series from years past have shown this, with the 2024/25 final, a Melbourne derby, being sold out within 48 hours and gathering significant viewership online.

The idea of a finals series lies within the Australian sporting ethos; the other sporting codes have had this tradition for most of their existence, especially in recent history.

Football, though, is different from the rest of the sporting codes in Australia, unique even. This has historically contributed to its inability to integrate into the same supported status as other codes.

Many in the Australian footballing community, supporter groups, players, coaches, and even the new Director of Football Australia, have voiced concerns over fan numbers in the league competition.

It wouldn’t be absurd to say that maybe, though profitable now, the finals series is actually taking away from the league itself.

Consider the media image: the league winner is called the “minor premiership,” and ticket sales and viewership figures reveal a huge disparity between the two parts of the A-League.

It must be said that an alternative that could work in unison with the league and possibly increase viewership of the league itself would be a great advantage.

It would allow the league to gain more jeopardy and drama, which could build greater interest in attending league games.

One alternative is already here.

No other sporting code in Australia has both a league competition and a cup competition. Football in Australia does.

The Hahn’s Australia Cup is our equivalent to the FA Cup in England or the Copa del Rey in Spain.

These are competitions that offer a finals option in a different competition entirely. They generate huge traction while never diminishing the importance of the league and, therefore, its popularity.

These cup competitions cannot be discussed without acknowledging some obvious differences.

They don’t face the same popularity issues that football does in Australia. It’s obvious the Hahn’s Australia Cup doesn’t yet gain the traction that the finals series does.

However, for a healthy footballing environment with increasing fan numbers, it should.

The idea of elevating the Hahn’s Australia Cup and scaling back the finals series is a complex question, one that is treated like a “no-go zone” by many in the Australian footballing community, and that is understandable.

Though big changes like this might, in the end, be credible options for the future of the sport in this country.

Larger plans must be set in motion, strategies that can be worked towards and refined along the way. It is the process by which all large organisations, business models and even national governments build their strategies.

Such a shift will be scrutinised and pushed back against.

Though with further fine-tuning and smart investment in development, not to mention the introduction of promotion and relegation and the possibility of changing the footballing calendar.

It could replicate the success that these two-competition models already enjoy in other leagues.

The added importance that the premiership would gain, the reality that every game matters, could alongside other strategies entice fans to more games, increase viewership and ticket sales, and create more dedicated fan bases. It works in other nations, very well in fact.

The possibility of two teams lifting a trophy, rather than one single event defining it all, sounds like a strategy that could deliver more engagement over longer periods of time.

Maybe Australian football doesn’t need to answer this question just yet. It is complex, difficult and it would require a great deal of work, including significant investment into the game, which is another issue entirely.

Yet as low attendance numbers persist in the A-League, even alongside increased media viewership, something needs to change for football in Australia.

The rise in popularity of this game and its dedicated community deserves bold ideas and forward thinking.

Ideas like this could eventually begin to change the landscape of the beautiful game in Australia for the better.

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