Decade Of Impact: Annual Female Football Week Celebrates Continued Meteoric Rise Of Women's Football

The success of the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand™ continues to reverberate as an event packed Female Football Week 2024 draws to a successful conclusion.

Taking place from 3 - 12 May 2024, the campaign theme #WeRise aimed to harness the momentum of the transformative tournament while acknowledging of the collective sense of community fostered in women's football - on and off the field - to advance the game together.

With the ten-year anniversary of Female Football Week, #WeRise also celebrates a decade focused on promoting and elevating the women's game though recognising and empowering women and girls in football from all aspects of the game - from playing to coaching, refereeing, volunteering, administration and everything in between.

Across Football Australia's nine Member Federations, over 2,400 community clubs nationally were encouraged to profile, platform and laud the impact of women and girls in their community with hundreds of activities taking place including a national webinar series, clubs and associations hosting come and try days, clinics, networking events, coaching and referees courses, Coles MiniRoos gala days, and Female Football Rounds.

Football Australia's Head of AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026™ Office, Sarah Walsh, said this year's celebrations have been an opportunity to reflect on the significant progress made in the past decade while recognising the work still to be undertaken as women's football continues to rise.

"Since the first public match in 1921, women's football has been at the forefront of the women's sport revolution and, with the 10-year milestone since Football Australia launched Female Football Week in 2014, we have an opportunity to reflect and truly appreciate how far the game has come and emphasise the value women and girls provide," said Walsh.

"The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ was a seminal moment for football in Australia and for women's sport. While registrations for the winter football season are yet to close, we have already witnessed a 20% increase nationally in participation for the season with female registrations leading the way.

"We have also witnessed the CommBank Matildas continue to capture the nation post tournament with the team currently on a 14 home matches sell-out streak, while the A-League Women 2023/24 season recorded the highest attended season of any women's sport in Australian history and the A-League Women Grand Final recorded its biggest ever broadcast audience demonstrating the appetite for the quality football.

"While there is unprecedented boom in women's football and women's participation in football, we also understand we still have significant strides to take to ensure all women and girls have fair and equitable access to all aspects of the game - from adequate female friendly facilities, equity in field and grounds access, to governance structures that provide women and girls a voice in the administration of their game," she concluded.

This year's Female Football Week national awards winners reflect the contribution performed by women and girls in football not only over the last 12 months but over the decades.