Successful Women’s Leagues Across Sports From Around The World

The WIPL has a lot of reference points that it can learn from as it begins its journey.

Updated on: 6 December 2022 7:21 pm

WBBL team Adelaide Strikers celebrate after winning the 2022 championship.

Way back in history, sports was seen as an endeavour reserved for the male gender. But for several decades now, women have enriched sports in different disciplines, be it Olympic sports, racquet games, hockey or football.

In India, some of the biggest names in sports have been women. The women’s cricket team, too, has gained in prominence. And now, after the success of the Women’s T20 challenge, the BCCI is set to launch the Women’s IPL next year.

Across the globe, several women’s leagues have flourished and women athletes have set examples and laid down paths for future generations to follow. Here are a few successful women’s leagues around the world that continue to garner audiences every year.

1. Vitality Women’s County T20
Started in 2009, the Women’s T20 Cup was a tiered competition with eight divisions of four teams. Kent has been the most successful side, winning the tournament three times – 2011, 2013 and 2016. There were changes at the organizational level as the 50-over Women’s County championship was ended, but the T20 Cup was given a green light as central funding from ECB continued. The counties now act as feeder sides to the new regional structure.

The tournament has now expanded to 35 teams which are organized in eight regional groups. Since the restructured tournament, no overall winner is declared but regional winners are decided after league stages.

2. FA Women’s Super League
If you want to watch the likes of Sam Kerr, Vivianne Miedema and Fran Kirby sprinkle gold on the football field on a weekly basis, you just need to tune in to the FA Women’s Super League.

An equivalent of the Premier League, the FA Women’s Super League is the highest league of women’s football in England. Started in 2010, the Super League is played between 12 teams in a league format. At the start, it was an eight-team league with no relegation in the first two seasons.

Riding on its nearly-decade-long success, the Women’s Super League signed a sponsorship deal with Barclays. The three-year contract was in excess of £10 million, with prize money of £500,000. FA described this as its biggest-ever investment in UK women’s sports by any brand. The FA WSL is telecast in 12 other countries than the UK and is one of the most watched women’s sports leagues in the world.

3. WNBA
Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the US. The WNBA has done a fantastic job of taking advantage of the sport’s popularity to attract mega sponsorships. The WNBA began in 1997 with just eight teams, with the season running between May and September. While still not as popular as the NBA, it has loyal followers. The 2022 season had an average attendance of 5,679.

Major brands like Pepsi, Nike, Boost Mobile continue to be associated with the league, making it one of the marketable tournaments in women’s sports.

4. Women’s Big Bash League
As T20 leagues across the world picked momentum, Cricket Australia started the Women’s Big Bash League, five years after the inaugural Big Bash League. Cricket Australia first conducted a Women’s Twenty20 Cup but later decided to replace it with the Women’s Big Bash League in an effort to increase the interest in female cricket and also to give opportunities to budding female cricketers at the grassroots level.

T20 cricket was seen as the optimal format to engage new fans and WBBL helped in that respect. The competition has the same eight city-based franchises that are present in the Big Bash League.

Citing the growth of T20 cricket, WBBL season seven became the first edition to televise all 59 games.

5. National Women’s Soccer League
Megan Rapinoe has been one of the strongest voices when it comes to demanding equality in sport, and many other issues. But her natural habitat remains the National Women’s Soccer League where she continues to shine season after season. Since being founded in 2012, NWSL has been growing each year in popularity, showing there are enough enthusiasts for women’s football in the world.

The 2022 Women’s Soccer League saw an average attendance of 7197 per game across 132 games. Alex Morgan, Debinha, Rapinoe and Bella Bixby are some high profile names who can be watched in the NWSL.