In July and August, Australia and New Zealand co-hosted the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. As football fans living in Australia, we enjoyed the excellent performances of our beloved national team “the Matildas.” Alongside 25 million Australians, we lived and breathed “Matildas Fever.” Record-breaking ticket sales, unprecedented TV ratings (eg, the semifinal against England was the most-watched TV event ever in Australia),¹ nonstop media coverage … the Matildas captivated and united a nation in ways unseen before, by any men’s or women’s sporting team in Australia.

The Matildas’ journey was truly a Cinderella story. Less than 2 decades ago, like many women footballers, they played in front of nearly empty small venues with almost no media coverage, while being paid wages that were below the poverty line.² However, in recent years, the Matildas’ increasing success has paralleled their rising popularity, visibility, and progress in gender equality in sport, including achieving equal pay (in terms of the proportion of the total price money) with the men’s national football team, “the Socceroos” in 2019.

Over the years, we have monitored the effects of major sporting events on population-level physical activity participation. Despite the optimistic outcomes event organizers tend to promise, we found little evidence for a lasting legacy. For example, our analyses of major Olympic events in the last 30 years found very little support for an “Olympic Legacy” in terms of physical activity or community sport participation, despite the spike in public interest during the Olympic Games.³ There was evidence of an increase in motivation and intention following the 2000 Sydney Olympic games, but very few examples of subsequent increases in population physical activity participation.⁴ However, as both physical activity researchers and football fans, we cannot help but ask the question “Can co-hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup create a positive legacy for community sport and population-level physical activity participation in Australia?”

There are reasons for optimism. First, the “Matildas Fever” seems to have lasted beyond the World Cup. While the players are widely adored by the nation, their careers, whether in Australia or overseas, continue to be followed by their Australian fans. While we are writing this commentary, all Matildas matches in the 2024 Paris Olympic Qualifiers were again completely sold out. Second, the Matildas’ legacy reaches beyond football or sport. Hosting the FIFA World Cup has exposed a nation to the pinnacle of women’s sport and to the athleticism, skills, and bravery of our women footballers, many of whom are from the LGBTQI+ community. Therefore, this World Cup has included social issues, including gender equality and LGBTQI+ rights. As journalists wrote, “Women’s football is bigger than a game.”⁵ Third, and perhaps most importantly, the Matildas’ success has apparently changed Australians’ perception of women’s sport, and inspired everyone, not just girls and women, but also boys and men, to participate in, respectively, support of women’s sport. Some of the Matildas players, now in their 20s and 30s, confessed that they grew up playing on boys’ teams and idolizing male football stars because there were few role models for girls. Within their career, they have led a cultural change around women’s football and have themselves become the role models for many girls and women today. In fact, female participation in football is expected to soar in Australia with some communities already observing the “Matildas Effect.”⁶

Evaluating the Women’s World Cup legacy requires population-level monitoring, with the initial effects likely within 12 months. We acknowledge the obstacles and challenges that could stand in the way between the “Matildas Fever” and sustainable societal-level changes. First, despite the breakthroughs achieved by the Matildas, not all women’s sport has received equal attention and sport-related media coverage continues to be dominated by men’s sport.⁷ Other aspects of gender inequality, such as those related to scheduling and pay, continue to be experienced by many sportswomen in Australia and around the world.⁸ However, the visibility of the Matildas should be used as an exemplar to motivate changes in other sporting areas and to advocate for other underserved groups in sports, such as people with disabilities. In November 2023, Australia will host the first women’s International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football Asia-Oceania Championships (Para Asian Cup). The Para Cup has run since 2010, but only included a men’s competition. Unfortunately, this event has low community recognition, despite the 2 Australian Para Asia Cup teams representing 4.4 million Australians living with a disability. This event, in the wake of the “Matilda Fever” has the potential to continue to promote equality and inclusion through sports, making football “More than a game.” Second, while the Matildas may inspire young girls to start to play sports, maintaining sport participation has been a substantial challenge in Australia, particularly among adolescent girls.⁹ In Australia in 2022, 53% of adolescent boys played sport regularly, compared with only 47% of girls. Moreover, sport participation continues to be disproportionately low among socially disadvantaged girls.¹⁰ Finally, it is important not to equate progress in elite sport with that in population-level physical activity participation. The latter requires much more than just role models and inspiration and needs coordinated cross-sectoral planning, and sustained investment in structural, socioeconomic, and environmental facilitators of activity across society.

In conclusion, we are optimistic about the positive trends in women’s sport in Australia, spearheaded by the Matildas, but data on participation in the next few years will determine if the current enthusiasm translates into increased governmental support and community participation. The popularity of the Matildas should be used as a catalyst for increasing investments in community sport, active leisure and physical activity for girls and women throughout Australia, across diverse socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, gender identity, and sexual orientation backgrounds. We look forward to observing the most important “Matildas Effect”: more Australian girls and women engaging in physical activity and sports for years to come.