Confederation to contribute CHF 15 million to the 2025 Women’s European Football Championship
Published: Friday, Apr 26th 2024, 17:10
Back to Live Feed
Like the Council of States, the responsible National Council committee also wants to support next year's European Women's Football Championships with CHF 15 million. This is almost four times the amount proposed by the Federal Council.
By 15 votes to 5 with 3 abstentions, the Science, Education and Culture Committee of the National Council (WBK-N) has recommended the motion of its sister committee, which was clearly approved by the Council of States, for adoption, as reported by the parliamentary services on Friday. The final decision in the upper chamber will be made in the summer, but is probably only a formality.
In January, the Federal Council decided to support the European Championships with only CHF 4 million. One of the reasons it gave for this was the Confederation's strained financial situation.
Consternation over Federal Council decision
The decision caused consternation among those affected. Critics argued that the amount was just one twentieth of the CHF 80 million that the federal government had spent on the 2008 European Men's Football Championship in Switzerland and Austria.
The Federal Council pointed out that the Women's European Championship was different from the men's event in 2008, as the audience was made up differently. A large part of the federal contributions at that time would have been used to finance the security costs.
Like its sister committee in the Council of States, the WBK-N now argues that the major women's sporting event offers Switzerland a great opportunity to present itself to an audience of millions, as stated in the press release. The increase in the federal contribution is therefore justified. Cities and cantons have so far contributed CHF 65 million to the Women's World Cup.
Better structures
16 European women's football teams will play for the title in eight Swiss cities in 2025. Around 700,000 spectators are expected and half a billion people are likely to watch on television.
The WBK-S also wants to use part of the CHF 15 million it has requested for national communication. However, the structures in women's football are also to be sustainably improved and the use of public transport promoted, for example through combined tickets.
©Keystone/SDA
English 
German 
French 
Spanish 
Arabic