THE commercial value of women’s football in Europe could enjoy a six-fold increase to almost £578 million a year over the next decade, a new Uefa report has suggested.

The Business Case for Women’s Football study examines potential growth in club football on the Continent in the wake of a hugely successful Euro 2022 tournament which saw England crowned champions, and predicts an annual value of €686m (£577.8m) by 2033.

Uefa’s report sets out the case for investment in club and league football based on the popularity of the women’s international game, but also the strides made in recent years at club level, where domestic leagues are thriving and a new-look Champion League format with centralised marketing and TV coverage is now in place.

Uefa’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler said: “Women’s football is on an incredibly exciting trajectory, with growth being seen across nearly every metric and across all of our stakeholders across Europe.

“The potential of the women’s game is limitless and we believe we are on course to take women’s football to heights that were unimaginable just a few years ago.

“As this report shows, now is the time to capitalise on the momentum we have created together, now is the time to get involved, now is the time to invest.”

The authors, who forecast that the fan-base for the women’s game could rise from 144m to 328m over the next 10 years, focused on sporting, commercial, image and engagement opportunities and consulted 42 leagues, 162 clubs, the European Club Association and 11 commercial partners, as well as conducting 30 in-depth interviews with top executives.