One Year to Go: Brazil 2027 and the Next Generation of Women’s Football Fans

Louise Beltrame-Bawden

~ 8 min read

The road to the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup is officially underway.

Today marks exactly one year until hosts Brazil kick off the tournament at the iconic Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, launching what promises to be another defining chapter in the growth of women's football.

Brazil 2027 will be historic. For the first time, the FIFA Women's World Cup will be staged in South America, bringing the tournament to one of football's most passionate regions and opening the door to millions of new fans, commercial opportunities and engagement touchpoints across the continent.

The tournament arrives at a time when women's football is experiencing unprecedented momentum.

According to figures released by FIFA, the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand shattered expectations:

Nearly 2 million fans attended matches, making it the most-attended Women's World Cup in history.
More than 1.8 million tickets were sold.
FIFA's digital audience grew by 130% compared to France 2019.
The tournament generated more than $570 million in revenue.

Women's football is no longer an emerging opportunity. It is one of the fastest-growing properties in global sport.

The Audience Opportunity Is Different This Time

Women's football is growing alongside a generation that consumes sport differently.

For Gen Z, fandom isn't built solely through watching a 90-minute match. It's a continuous engagement cycle that moves seamlessly between live action, highlights, social media, player stories, graphics, rankings, podcasts and deeper analysis. Fans discover a viral moment on one platform, share it on another, and then seek out the data and context behind it.

Research shows:

52% of Gen Z adults are interested in attending or watching women's sports, up from 41% in 2022. (Nielsen)
20% of Gen Z fans say they prefer watching women's sport to men's sport. (Ticketmaster Sport)
More than 90% of Gen Z sports fans consume sport via social media. (Deloitte's Sports Consumer research)
75% engage with highlights, clips and secondary content more often than full-match broadcasts. (Vizrt)

This matters because today's audience expects content to be immediate, accessible and available wherever they are. They move seamlessly between formats, discovering a player through a social clip, sharing a graphic with friends, watching a highlight package and then exploring deeper analysis and statistics.

But just as importantly, this audience values authenticity.

Gen Z fans are highly engaged, but also highly discerning. They want content that feels authentic, credible and worth their attention. In an era of endless clips, opinions and commentary, trust has become one of sport's most valuable currencies.

That is where Opta plays a critical role.

As the source of truth for sports data, Opta helps transform moments into meaningful stories. Whether it's analysing Spain's rise to world champions, tracking the emergence of the game's next stars, or providing context behind the biggest moments on the pitch, trusted data provides the insight that turns engagement into deeper fandom.

For the next generation of sports fans, it's not simply about consuming content. It's about understanding the story behind it. And as the road to Brazil 2027 unfolds, the organisations that combine authentic storytelling with trusted data will be best placed to capture and grow the audience of tomorrow.

How Opta Can Power the Women's Football Ecosystem

As anticipation builds towards Brazil 2027, every organisation in women's football is chasing the same goal: growing audiences and deepening engagement. The challenge is that every stakeholder needs something different.

Supporting Broadcasters and Media

Challenge: Keeping audiences engaged before, during and after matches in an increasingly competitive media landscape.

How Opta Helps:

Live data and insights for commentary and production teams.
Real-time storytelling that adds context to key moments.
Enhanced graphics and second-screen experiences.
Pre-match and post-match analysis content.
Unique statistics and narratives that enrich broadcasts and drive conversation across social media.

Example: Turning Data Into Talking Points

During England's UEFA Women's EURO 2025 triumph, an Opta insight highlighted that the Lionesses had led for just four minutes and 52 seconds across the entire knockout stage, including stoppage time.

Shared through Opta Live and featured by BBC Sport presenter Gabby Logan during the broadcast, the statistic instantly reframed England's title-winning journey. Rather than focusing solely on results, it revealed the resilience and fighting spirit behind their success, providing fans with a memorable talking point that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.

This is where data becomes more than information. It becomes storytelling.

By delivering contextual insights in real time, Opta helps broadcasters uncover narratives that deepen audience engagement, enhance coverage and create moments that resonate long after the final whistle.

Why it matters: Today's fans expect more than coverage. They want context, explanation and stories that help them understand what makes a moment truly remarkable. Opta helps broadcasters deliver exactly that.

Supporting National Teams

Challenge: Growing fan bases, building player profiles and maintaining engagement between matches.

How Opta Helps:

Data-driven storytelling around players and teams.
Social-first content designed for modern fan consumption.
Video production and content creation through the Opta Content Agency.
Performance insights that create deeper narratives.
Campaigns that help federations reach new audiences.

Example: France Women's National Team

Ahead of the knockout stages, the French Women's National Team shared a video shot by the Opta Content Agency on Instagram to give fans a glimpse into the team's dynamic off the field and the personalities driving Les Bleues' tournament run. The reel quickly went viral, amassing over 5.7 million views, 320,000+ likes and 1,400+ comments, showcasing the power of authentic, player-led storytelling to grow visibility and engagement.

Why it matters: Because today's fans don't just want to watch players compete. They want to know who they are.

Women's football is resonating with Gen Z because it delivers what they value most: authentic storytelling, accessible athletes and content that feels personal, social and culturally relevant.

Supporting Publishers' Social Presence

Challenge: Covering a global tournament at scale while producing distinctive, credible content that cuts through an increasingly crowded media landscape.

How Opta Helps:

Tournament and match preview packs that provide journalists and commentators with essential context.
Opta Facts that uncover unique stories before, during and after matches.
Opta Search, enabling journalists and content teams to instantly discover statistics, trends and historical context from across Opta's database.
Access to dedicated research teams and 24/7 support.
Bespoke analysis and content projects tailored to specific editorial needs.
Opta Graphics that transform trusted data into engaging visual stories ready for social, digital and broadcast platforms.

Example: Supporting Coverage from the First Qualifier to the Final

Major tournaments generate thousands of stories, but finding the right ones at the right time can be a challenge.

OptaAI Studio helps publishers, broadcasters and content teams uncover the stories that matter. Tournament preview packs provide deep competition insights, historical context and player profiles before a ball is kicked.

Through Opta Search, journalists and researchers can instantly surface relevant statistics, historical records and player insights, helping them identify stories faster and respond to breaking narratives as they emerge.

But modern audiences increasingly consume sport visually. Through Opta Graphics, organisations can quickly transform trusted Opta data into branded visual content, from player comparisons and shot maps to tactical breakdowns and tournament trends.

Used by organisations including BBC Sport, The Sun and the Lionesses, Opta Graphics helps turn complex data into highly shareable content that resonates across social and digital platforms.

Why it matters: The modern fan has access to more information than ever before. The publishers that stand out will be those who can combine speed, credibility and storytelling. Opta provides the data, research and tools to make that possible.

Powering Brands and Creative Campaigns

Challenge: Creating authentic connections with fans and demonstrating value beyond traditional sponsorship visibility.

How Opta Helps:

Data-driven storytelling that connects brands with the moments fans care about most.
Insight-led campaigns rooted in real player and team performances.
Content that extends sponsorship activations across digital, social and out-of-home channels.
Trusted statistics that add credibility and context to brand messaging.
The ability to remain part of the conversation before, during and after major tournaments.

Example: Opta x PwC x N=5 Turning Opta Data into Cross-Media Campaigns

During a major international tournament, Dutch creative agency N=5 partnered with Opta and PwC Netherlands to create the award-winning "Stats For Equality" campaign, designed to amplify PwC's sponsorship of the Netherlands Women's National Team while supporting the growth of women's football.

During the tournament, Opta Facts were used in PwC's out-of-home billboards, digital ads and across Instagram to celebrate unsung performances and connect PwC authentically to the Oranje Lionesses.

Despite the Netherlands' early exit, data-led stories still helped amplify and contextualise the team's performances and celebrate players like Vivianne Miedema, who scored her 100th international goal during the tournament.

Why it Matters: Today's fans expect brands to do more than sponsor the game, they expect them to be part of the story.

By combining trusted data with authentic storytelling, brands can create deeper connections, stay relevant beyond matchdays and engage audiences long after the final whistle.

Supporting Federations & Governing Bodies

Challenge: Growing participation, improving performance, attracting new fans and raising the profile of national teams on the global stage.

How Opta Helps:

Performance data and analytics to support coaching and technical staff.
Opposition analysis and tournament preparation tools.
Education programmes to build data literacy and analytical capabilities.
Real-time support during major tournaments.
Storytelling and content that helps federations showcase success and engage fans.

Example: CAF's World Cup Breakthrough

Ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, Stats Perform partnered with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to provide an integrated support model combining live Opta data and analytics, dedicated analysts, education workshops and real-time tournament support.

The impact was clear.

CAF nations delivered their strongest-ever Women's World Cup group-stage performance, with three of the four African teams progressing to the knockout rounds. Teams were equipped with comprehensive multi-year datasets, detailed opposition analysis and enhanced analytical capabilities that helped them prepare more effectively than ever before.

The success demonstrated how trusted data, expert analysis and education can help federations compete more effectively on the world's biggest stage as reported on by The Athletic.

Why is matters: As the road to Brazil 2027 unfolds, federations face a dual challenge: improving performance while growing audiences. Opta helps achieve both providing the insights needed to compete, and the stories needed to inspire the next generation of fans.

Looking Ahead

For federations, broadcasters, publishers, brands and betting operators alike, the challenge will be capturing attention in an increasingly crowded sports landscape. Success won't be defined solely by reaching audiences, but by creating meaningful connections with them.

As fan expectations continue to evolve, trusted data, compelling storytelling and engaging content will play a central role in how the tournament is experienced. From uncovering emerging stars and delivering real-time insights to creating shareable content and powering official experiences, data is no longer supporting the story – it is helping shape it.

The road to Brazil 2027 has already begun. The opportunity now is to turn that momentum into lasting audience growth.