Now it's the woman's turn, and let the first star come

Six times selected as the best player in the world, Marta will lead the Brazilian women’s team in another World Cup – procreation

Women’s football has gained space in the media in recent times. A few years ago, it started to be featured in the news of the most diverse TV stations, then it started to be broadcast on pay platforms, finally reaching open TV, initially with Band, and starting this year, by the main broadcaster in the country. , TV Globo.

We are also seeing greater interest from brands in engaging with and supporting women’s football. The brands that today sponsor clubs, federations, and leagues also seek to associate themselves with the athletes who have excelled in the universe.

These are still the first steps towards the growth of women’s football in Brazil, and are way more prominent in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, among others. Not coincidentally, these are currently the biggest and foremost competitors for our team in the World Cup that starts next month.

We need to integrate women’s football into our daily lives. The news should give them more exposure. Games need to be streamed more on different platforms, including Open TV, and brand support can’t happen when we’re getting close to a special event like the World Cup. Streaming platforms and influencers also need to support and expose these events, not only in a World Cup year, but throughout the entire cycle. All this support and exposure has to continue so that the international results are in as well and the Brazilian girls can have the same success as the men’s team.

For the first time in history, we’ve extensively covered Choice Women. The moment is good and positive, women’s sports should take advantage of the World Cup to further grow, but it cannot stop there. We cannot miss opportunities as in the past, when Gustavo Kuerten was No. 1 in the ATP world rankings, but tennis did not continue its development.

We have, at every Olympics, incredible names and stories of overcoming challenges with athletes who have no support and vision throughout the entire cycle, but achieve incredible results. They saw the news during the Olympics, but then no one talks about it anymore.

Examples? We have several.

Isaquias Kiroz in rowing, Arthur Zanetti and Rebeca Andrade in artistic gymnastics, Sarah Menezes in judo and “Fadinha” Rayssa Leal in skateboarding managed to break this barrier a bit and stay in the media for a while longer. Incidentally, Raisa has achieved something greater, which is to increase media attention to her sport, and to expand visibility on all platforms. After the Tokyo Olympics, skateboarding gained definitive status even on open television, something that would have been unthinkable before it took silver and also other medals in the sport, won by Kelvin Hoeffler and Pedro Barros.

At present, we have about a dozen linear channels that dedicate 100% of their programming to sports, as well as streaming platforms that have “unlimited” programming space. I can’t believe there is no space/interest in sports other than (men’s) football. Indeed, there is interest, but it must be promoted. Brands must also continue to support so that visibility can be increased. This is how we will be able to improve the results of our athletes in events around the world. Currently, the results are practically miraculous. But I am sure that with the proper support from sponsors and the media, they could be even better.

I hope the women’s team brings home its first star this year. It will be more important than SF eventually in 2026.

Evandro Figuera is the Vice President of IMG Media in Brazil and writes monthly in sports machine