Is it still match day if you're watching in bed with snacks?

Women's football lives online but have we hacked the game or hidden it?

When the whistle blows for half time during the League cup final, I watch the players leave the pitch before rising from my seat to grab a drink. My route to mid-game refreshment is simple, there are no other fans to mindfully sidestep because my fridge is just a flight of stairs away. 

An advert interrupts the analysis before kick-off - “have you heard? The BBC has launched a new women’s football TikTok account”. I click follow before burrowing beneath the quilt as the game restarts, sunlight filters into the room running tracks over my laptop as the players dart about.

Following a decade of historic major tournaments, women’s football has seen a steady increase in popularity. Spearheading the upswing in fandom is a young, female audience who are falling in love with the world’s game after having finally seen themselves represented.

This generation of fans have entered the football landscape determined to break the mould, unlike their equivalents on the men’s side, who value gameday performance above all, their passion is driven by an equal investment in player personalities and off-the-pitch news.

Many discovered the game through international tournaments and have done away with the geographical proximity to clubs which is the traditional fan catalyst. Instead, they rely on the global town square of social media to bring them closer to the action. Interacting with football content online is the route second most likely to catapult Gen-Z women into fandom.

The women’s football community (or woso as it’s affectionately known) lives online, you’d be hard pressed to find an elite-level player without a significant social following. Considering the demographic of these new fans, their love of the digital world should come as no surprise. 

“Research suggests that girls possess a ‘bedroom culture’, they prefer hobbies and activities which can be enjoyed from the comfort of home, it follows then that the women’s football community has turned to social media to express their fandom.”

My love for bedroom doom scrolling might be the residual effect of years forced indoors by a pandemic but in the 1970s, sociologists Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber identified a theory which legitimises time spent consuming media in bedrooms as a significant cultural practice among young women.

According to research, girls possess a ‘bedroom culture’, living spaces are highly personalised and the bedroom is seen as a site of identity construction. As a result, girls tend towards activities which can be enjoyed from the comfort of home. It follows then that the women’s football fan community has turned to social media platforms to express their fandom. Whether games are played home or away, social media allows fans to stay in the know without ever having to leave their rooms.

As the financial value of the sport becomes evident, forward-thinking brands and clubs have also recognised the value of the game’s digital audiences. The digital boom is also creating new career pathways which are helping to redress historical gender inequalities within sports media. After taking part in the Pixel FC Academy, one such scheme created by Google Pixel and The Powerhouse Project, I have seen the positives first-hand.

(Pixel FC Academy Cohort 2025.)

But as algorithms force users into siloes, serving us only content we are proven to enjoy and deepening digital divides worsen the threat of online harms, Hot Grls Watch Sports is asking, as fans of the women’s game, how crucial are our online spaces? And what will it take to recreate them IRL? 

Does the goal count if I scroll past it?: What are the benefits of digitalising sport?

Beyond girls and bedrooms, indoor leisure habits shape our cultural consumption. We no longer visit attend concerts or watch films, we stream them. Sports, then ought to be the final frontier. Have you ever attempted to explain how it felt to witness a live goal to somebody who wasn’t there? It’s as impossible as trying to spell out a dream, there’s an emotion that words can’t convey, you had to be there.

Yet this doesn’t exempt the football industry from modernising to attract younger audiences, investing in the digital world has been the solution. In the men’s game we’ve seen the birth of straight-to-stream competitions like Baller League, a tournament made up of players, including ex-professionals and influencers managed by cultural figures like rapper Dave and football legends Ian Wright and Chloe Kelly. As well as the creation of events like the Sidemen charity match, a game which saw media figures play in Wembley in front of audiences historically reserved for championship finals.

Traditional footballing organisations like the Premier League have also leaned into the digital, the result being a consistent churn of content aimed at to entice an audience accustomed to endless choice. Oversaturation has proved a reliable route to cashing in and retaining fleeting attention spans.

Still in the nascent stages of profitability, the women’s game faces a different issue. The sport is maturing in a digital-first era so while companies navigate creating an online offering which reflects their in-person legacy on the men’s side, women's football fan communities have found their beating heart in new media.

(Leila and her sisters)

“We created the podcast because we didn’t have anybody to talk to about football in real life. We wanted to be a space where people could come for casual insight into the WSL (Women’s Super League). Without social media, the podcast wouldn't exist.” Says Leila, co-host of Sister Goals, a women’s football podcast she runs alongside her two sisters.

The support of the online woso community gave Leila the encouragement to pursue her media passions even when her immediate reality didn’t always confirm the appetite for the product she was creating.

“My friends and I are into football , but when we go out, it’s hard to find places showing women’s games. You can’t just leave the house and see women’s football at the pub, I need to scroll on instagram to get my football fix because I can’t get it in real life.” 

“People around me weren’t talking about football, I play on a team and even they weren’t, I started to feel a bit nervous bringing it up. I think the fear comes from having been made to prove my football knowledge in the past, it makes you feel like you have to be an expert just to say you like the sport.” Leila credits her career journey so far to the welcoming spirit of the online woso community but wonders how widely the impact is felt. 

“You can’t just leave the house and see women’s football on at the pub so we need the online space, I need to scroll on instagram to get my football fix because I can’t get it in real life”

“The community online is massive and everyone was so lovely and receptive to what we are building, we’ve had messages from people who also felt like they didn’t have anyone in their life to talk to about football and it’s so encouraging but [the community] is also very tight knit, the same followers we have also follow all the other women’s football channels. It makes me wonder if we’re really bringing in new fans to grow the game or if we’re all just shouting to each other."

The closeness Leila alludes to is a well documented feature of the online woso community, a far-cry from the world of hired social media support in the men‘s game, online women’s football culture offers fans the opportunity to interact with players as well as one another. Football journalist Suzanne Wrack notes that women footballers have historically relied on fan support to prove their marketability and secure buy-in from higher ups during the fight for professionalisation. Geographical isolation and social media have only enhanced this closeness.

Furthermore, female athletes and fans are subject to increased criticism and abuse, The creation of separate channels dedicated to women’s football coverage has been a solution developed to counter of misogynistic abuse which swelled up whenever clubs shared content of their women’s team on their men’s channels. Such toxicity could also explain the close-knit nature of a community suspicious of external attention. 

“An F you to mainstream media”: Increasing viewership through social media coverage.

Before Youtube became the home of the WSL and Women’s Champions League, simply finding out where to watch games was a barrier in itself. Feeling let down by mainstream coverage of the game pushed some fans to create their own platforms, filling a gap in the market and feeding into the reciprocal relationship between fans and players.

“The big platforms rarely talked about the women’s game, and when they did it felt like an after thought. It was never the main focus of their coverage.” Says Liv Mctigue, a content creator and founder of Fifty1, a sixteen-thousand strong virtual women’s football platform.

“I wanted to create a space aimed at people in my age group [early twenties] who wanted to learn about the big issues in football, like racism, sexism or the ACL crisis and to be able speak to people in a tone of voice that didn’t feel stuffy.”

Though improved, coverage of women’s football still has a way to go with single camera set-ups, patchy commentary and the dreaded hand of the camera operator wiping rainwater from the lens all common impediments facing viewers who stream the games. In the face of this, fans welcome quality social media content.

“There are so many creators who are passionate, fans are taking ownership and doing their bit to grow the sport. Having this space feels like a bit of an F you to mainstream media sources that still don’t recognise the value of the women’s game.”

Liv attributes the strong queer representation provided by the women’s game as an additional explanation for the tight knit fan community. “A lot of people discover their sexuality through women’s football which is another way the game is so special.” However, this sense of personal connection combined with increased player access and the game’s appeal to younger audiences has laid the foundations for parasocial relationships to blossom, leading clubs to set up stricter player safeguarding boundaries.

(Fifty1’s Instagram page)

Online, where discourse runs uninhibited by regular social codes, crossed boundaries are exacerbated, an issue some players have highlighted. Recent increases in instances of player abuse during games have underlined the challenges created by the game’s intimate environment. As the profile of the sport grows, the online world and the blurred boundaries it creates may be having increasingly negative influences on this aspect of football. “Woso twitter especially can be intense at times, navigating the line between opinion and overly harsh criticism is definitely something I’m conscious of when moderating Fifty1’s content,” Liv shares.

Logging off and Touching Grass: Can digital engagement boost attendances?

The digital presence of women’s football offers unique challenges as a historically male industry learns that finding success whilst maintaining player safety in this new arena will take more than duplicating what has previously worked. However overall, online activity is supercharging the growth of the sport. 

Although growing, matchday attendances vary club to club; it’s a reality that becomes more stark when you look beyond the WSL into other leagues. However, attendances and perceived fan-interest and the revenue attached to these factors remain sticking points when securing senior backing from less dedicated club owners. 

The partial disconnect between the game’s online engagement and in-person experience can be chalked down to logistics, many teams play their games in secondary stadiums located far from the club’s easily accessible main homes, this presents a barrier for fans. Clubs who have hosted games in their main stadiums have enjoyed record attendances, proving that appetite exists when the game is accessible. 

Finding a solution to this problem is complicated and while some clubs are exploring purpose-built women’s stadiums to accommodate for the growing interest, others are showing that a long-term, intentional commitment to audience building is the surest way to fill seats as well as comment sections. In the interim, social media content bridges the gap for those unable to attend games in person. “Big brands are supporting the women’s game by platforming social media creators and it's great but I’d love to see them get behind community football initiatives because that sort of wider outreach is what drives growth by engaging people who don’t already love the game a.” Says Liv.

Social media fanfare is driving women’s football forwards and fan interest in the humanity of their favourite players is part of what is making female athletes more marketable than their male counterparts. In an economy increasingly dictated by the whims of the online world, likes, shares and comments have become second only to the ballot and despite the challenges this presents, the woso community have recognised this and seized their moment. As long as all of us involved remember to log off and get out to touch the grass we spend so much time talking about, the future of the game is surely bright.