European Women’s Championship wants to move mountains: ‘The goal is for us to sell out all matches’

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The motto of the tournament is ‘Summit of Emotions’, which will be played in eight Swiss cities from July 2 to 27, 2025. “Football and sport can move mountains,” said Marion Daube, director of women’s football at the SFV, during the kick-off event in Bern. This is what club and tournament director Doris Keller wants to do – on and off the field.

That has to be the case, because UEFA’s requirements are high. “The Women’s European Championship is the benchmark of all things,” says Nadine Kessler, former world footballer and current UEFA director. Women’s football is experiencing a hype worldwide and that is mainly because the major tournaments have all worked. 500 million TV viewers are expected for the tournament in Switzerland.

The bar is high after the 2017 tournaments in the Netherlands and 2022 in England, because they caused a boom in the country of the respective organizer. “Now we need to create enthusiasm for this event in Switzerland,” says Keller. The ticket registration platform will be launched these days and will go on sale from October – at reasonable prices. “The goal is to sell out all matches.” These should be embedded in a culturally supportive program in all host cities and should appeal to families in addition to girls and women.

SFV expects the number of permit holders to double

The Federal Council’s reduction of federal resources to four million has recently caused a setback. However, the last word on this issue has not yet been spoken. National Council members Aline Trede (Greens) and Flavia Wasserfallen (SP) are confident that the proposal from the Commission of the Council of States to increase the resources to 15 million will be accepted by the National Council in June.

The money is not important for the execution of the tournament, which runs on a budget of around 120 million francs, but for the supporting program at the venues, the national public transport use of match visitors and national and international advertising campaigns. Or for sustainability projects. The SFV expects that the number of women and girls with a permit will double from 40,000 to 80,000 in the next three years. “The girls’ needs are there. We must do justice to this as an association, but also as a society,” says Daube.

Source : Blick