The hard-hitting analysis of the first women’s playoffs
May was a memorable month for Swiss women’s football. For the first time there were playoffs in the Axa Women’s Super League. The favorites are in the final on Whit Monday with defending champion Servette and cup winner Zurich. But the road to Lausanne was more difficult than expected for the favorites.
“The results played into our hands,” says SFV women’s football director Tatjana Haenni (55) that in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, both Servette and FCZ were anything but clear in the first leg. The tension I wanted was there.
Haenni looks just as satisfied with the new mode that the playoffs serve as a motivational boost for the teams. In other words, there is no longer a “end” of the season.
Controversial match times
But it is also clear that not everything is going smoothly in the premiere playoffs. There were the unfortunate fixtures on Saturday evening, so the game was played at the same time as the men’s and women’s Champions League final.
Since one playoff game was broadcast live on TV, SRF Sport Live Director Daniel Bolliger says: “The games are scheduled in close consultation between the SFV, the clubs and the SRG. Prime time on Saturday evening is known to SRF viewers for live football games – including from the men’s Super League. For the playoff semi-finals, they jointly decided on this prominent slot. »
In addition to the live game, SRG also produces the live streams of all non-TV games, as has been the case throughout the season, with just one camera for resource reasons. But of all things in the semi-final penalty shootout between Servette and Basel, the stream stopped.
GC women attract the most TV viewers!
Women’s football has become more and more established in the TV landscape. SRF has been playing the Axa Women’s Super League regularly for two years, in the playoffs it was a pro round plus of course the final on Whit Monday (3 p.m., SRF2).
“On average over the first two seasons, the live games reached 43,000 people from German-speaking Switzerland, which corresponds to a market share of 5.5 percent,” says Daniel Bolliger, Head of Live at SRF Sport.
According to SRF, the most watched game of the current playoffs was the semi-final second leg FCZ – GC last Saturday with a peak of 60,000 spectators (average: 37,000 people with a market share of 3.3%).
The game with the greatest interest from the TV audience to date will be staged on October 31st. Bolliger: “The game between GC and Basel saw up to 89,000 spectators, the average was 56,000 people with a market share of 12%.” (md)
(All values: target group 3+, German-speaking Switzerland, overnight)
Women’s football has become more and more established in the TV landscape. SRF has been playing the Axa Women’s Super League regularly for two years, in the playoffs it was a pro round plus of course the final on Whit Monday (3 p.m., SRF2).
“On average over the first two seasons, the live games reached 43,000 people from German-speaking Switzerland, which corresponds to a market share of 5.5 percent,” says Daniel Bolliger, Head of Live at SRF Sport.
According to SRF, the most watched game of the current playoffs was the semi-final second leg FCZ – GC last Saturday with a peak of 60,000 spectators (average: 37,000 people with a market share of 3.3%).
The game with the greatest interest from the TV audience to date will be staged on October 31st. Bolliger: “The game between GC and Basel saw up to 89,000 spectators, the average was 56,000 people with a market share of 12%.” (md)
(All values: target group 3+, German-speaking Switzerland, overnight)
“We regret the picture failure at this unfortunate moment,” says Karin Nussbaumer, Head of National Productions Business Unit Sport SRG, “The reason for the failure was a technical problem with the signal transmission from the production site in Geneva to the broadcasting center in Zurich.”
Only the fans on site in Carouge saw the crucial penalty. Even if Haenni emphasizes that the number of spectators could be increased slightly compared to the regular season: The Women’s Super League still has a lot of room for improvement here. To put this into perspective: 380 fans at the Zurich derby on the Heerenschürli and of course the 1027 entries in the penalty-kick thriller Servette against Basel are already remarkable figures.
Just two games in front of over 1000 fans
The highest number of spectators in the playoffs is at YB in the quarterfinals against Zurich: 1504 fans are there in Wankdorf – it was the only playoff game that took place in a stadium.
The way to more fans also seems obvious in principle. The women have to get into the stadiums, at least in the playoffs, the highlight of the season. That brings more fans and also makes the dreary football field character of many venues disappear from the TV pictures. But the clubs are also responsible for that.
Speaking of the stadium: the fact that the final will be played in Lausanne is a last-minute decision because the SFV had long expected FCB to accept St. Jakob-Park. Hänni: “We take that as learning. Next time the place for the final must be decided earlier.” It is possible that 2023 will be played in a place like Thun, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen or St. Gallen.
Another lesson learned from the yellow card suspension in the final for Servette star Sandy Maendly: next season the cards will be canceled before the start of the playoffs.
Axa Women’s Super League
team |
SP |
TD |
pt |
||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
8th |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
9 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
||
10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |