Identifying Best Practice in Women's Football - FIFA/CIES ...

only 16 years of the WWC (Women’s World Cup), the number of national teamsparticipating in the preliminary rounds of the tournament has grown from 45 to 119. 17Figure 1. Worldwide Female ParticipationSpecifically for Europe, currently, there are around 6.5 million females who play football inUEFA-member countries. 18 Perhaps as women’s football gains increasing legitimacy, the factthat UEFA is third in percentage of female participants is also a driving factor for UEFA’sincreased investment. The federation with the most female players by far is CONCACAFwith over 10 million in 2006, and two of the biggest associations (USA and Canada) in termsof participation of females. In addition to that, almost a quarter of all football players inCONCACAF are females, the highest ratio of any federation 19 .Also, looking into the statistics of participation within Europe, it is clear there appearsto be a historical correlation between participation and success on the national stage.Germany has significantly the highest number of female participants, followed by Sweden,Norway, and Denmark 20 . While this has previously been a great advantage, federations suchas England and the Netherlands increasing promotion and organization of women’s footballon an elite level has resulted in improved results despite lower numbers of participants 21 .""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""17 FIFA, Fact sheet: FIFA Women’s World Cup Preliminary Competition 1991-2007. Zurich, 2007.18 FIFA Big Count 2006, 31 May 2007.19 CONMEBOL:12%, OFC:12%, UEFA:10%, AFC: 6%, CAF:3%. Ibid.20 See Appendix 1.21 Ibid.!!""