'Here to stay' - Switzerland's UEFA Women's EURO 2025 legacy
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
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Project to increase participation, raise standards and drive off-field developments.
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The Swiss Football Association (SFA) presented its UEFA Women's EURO 2025 legacy project for the sustainable promotion and strengthening of women's football in the country.
The project will run until the end of 2027 and provides development measures in grassroots football, elite football and at a social level. The project is being run in collaboration with UEFA, with the guiding principle being "Here to stay".
"Studies of past women's football tournaments show that organising a major tournament like the Women's EURO advances the development of women's football in the host countries by almost ten years. We are confident in our legacy programme and want to be ready to capitalise on the momentum of the Women's EURO."
The SFA has the target of doubling the number of girls and women playing football in Switzerland from 40,000 to 80,000 by 2027, with the number of women working as coaches and referees also to be doubled (from 2,500 to 5,000). These goals are to be achieved with projects such as Playmakers, a Playmore Football Girls Edition, female-only coaching courses and a recruitment project for female referees. The SFA also plans to launch a national infrastructure project in collaboration with the ASSA (Association of Swiss Sports Authorities), a legacy club football coaching programme and a legacy challenge in which clubs collect points and win prizes.
At elite level, the focus is on promoting the #NextGenHERation of top young athletes and strengthening the standards, venues and visibility of the national Women's Super League. Specifically, the SFA aims to at least double the number of the league's consumers (TV viewers and social media followers). A business case will take a close look at the organisational form and provide insights to further professionalise the league, with the implementation of a communication and marketing strategy as well as a club licensing system also set to contribute to achieving the objectives.
"The message 'Here to stay' emphasises that we need to define measures that will benefit women's football in the long term."
The SFA will also promote structural changes at a social level in order to improve the representation of women in football and build capacity for new female leaders. The number of women in decision-making positions among players in the Swiss football landscape is to be at least doubled. Development measures include rhetoric and media training for aspiring female leaders and structural best practices to create senior positions, as well as the training of female stadium speakers as part of Women's EURO.
Exactly one year before UEFA Women's EURO 2025, on 2 July 2024, the SFA will launch a new Instagram channel, together with UEFA, to provide an important media platform for the various topics of Swiss legacy.
