Japanese women’s soccer faces the same problem women’s soccer faces in the United States: the popularity of the national team, which won the 2011 Women’s World Cup championship, and its players maynot translate into success for the domestic women’s league.
“The [Women’s World Cup] boosted the brand value of Nadeshiko Japan, not the league teams,” Munehiko Harada, a sports management expert at Waseda University. “So the league needs to know how to manage this Nadeshiko brand to create more business, and give back to the club teamsand athletes.”
Several women’s pro clubs have folded in Japan in the last decade, and the Nadeshiko League averages only about 800 fans per match. Japan’s economic problems have made ittough for the Nadeshiko League.
In 2010, popular NTV Beleza stopped paying its players, forcing national team forward Shinobu Ohno to move to INACKobe. “I feel like women’s soccer is constantly subject to the economy,” Ohno said. And Japan’s economic problems may prevent women’s clubs from capitalizing on the popularity of their national teamstars.
“The league’s struggling condition is the result of poor financial conditions of sponsoring Japanese firms,” added Tama University professor IchiroHirose. “That won’t change with the World Cup victory.”