[co-author: Roslynn Ampomah]
Key takeaways
We shouldn’t view women’s football as a “version” of the men’s game. It’s a distinct product, with its own market, commercial opportunities, and investor profile.
Traditional paid broadcast models don’t fit the women’s game yet – clubs and broadcasters should collaborate on free, short-form, high-quality content that meets Gen Z/Alpha viewing habits, and work to simplify fragmented rights for fans.
True growth comes from patient, long-term partnerships – sponsors should offer hands-on support (facilities, data, visibility) and see themselves as co-architects of the sport’s future, not just benefactors.
Driving stadium attendance requires months-ahead, data-led planning and a family-friendly matchday experience; aligning leagues, federations, and clubs is essential to make this scalable and sustainable.
We recently teamed up with The Rise of Women's Football and GENSport to bring together leaders from across sport, media, and investment to discuss the transformation of the global women's game. Our partners chaired a series of roundtable discussions, gathering diverse perspectives on the opportunities and challenges facing women's football. In this article, we summarize the key insights from those discussions, offering a comprehensive overview of some of the event's most impactful moments. For further highlights from the event, check out the full report produced by The Rise of Women's Football here.
Infrastructure
Growth has outpaced facilities. Investment in stadiums, training, and tech (VAR, highlights, equipment tailored to women) is essential, though slower to yield returns. Paris 2024 showed equal programming can unlock new monetisation.
Key obstacles
Lack of track record makes investors cautious. Long-term commitment is needed, though specialist funds could enable shorter-term exits.
Untapped commercial opportunities/barriers
Player salaries are a major cost; salary caps could help. Sponsorship growth raises concerns about funds going to individuals rather than the game. Tax credits, family office investment, and franchising are potential avenues. Real change requires patience and a 20-year horizon.
How can broadcasters and digital platforms better showcase the women's game and accelerate audience growth?
Media rights remain limited. The “paywall problem” makes it difficult to consolidate programming, and traditional broadcast models don't reflect how fans consume women's football. Short-form and free content could drive growth.
What does a sustainable financial model for women's clubs look like?
UK football is financially fragile. U.S.-style investment may not translate directly, but new models are needed.
What can the women's game do differently from the men's game to attract Gen Z and Gen Alpha audiences?
Branding overhaul is key. Accessibility is a strength; scarcity models may undermine growth. Parallels to the music industry suggest tailoring products to younger audiences. Storytelling and star power (e.g., a women's FIFA equivalent) could energize fans.
Should women's clubs operate independently from men's teams or remain integrated—what model best drives growth?
Current marketing is tied to men's clubs, limiting identity. Independent branding could unlock new audiences, though men's clubs may resist due to financial interests. Ethical questions arise if clubs sell off women's teams.
Broadcast models
Traditional paid packages may not yet fit the women's game. While selling broadcast rights generates revenue, putting matches behind a paywall risks limiting visibility for a product still building its audience. Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans consume content differently (short, free clips on platforms like YouTube and TikTok rather than £40/month subscriptions).
Broadcasters also hesitate to air poorly attended matches. A more creative approach could involve clubs and broadcasters collaborating to produce monetized, snack sized, shareable content, or structuring rights deals to incentivize attendance and ticket sales alongside broadcast coverage.
Revenue opportunities
Women's football attracts a female led audience with higher spending potential than men's games. Extending match day experiences (meals, drinks packages, fan zones, live post-match podcasts, and merchandising) could significantly increase revenues. The game can position itself as more than just a match, offering a full lifestyle and entertainment experience.
Player centric fandom
Younger fans are less club loyal and more player focused, following star athletes across teams. This creates opportunities for clubs, broadcasters, and agents to monetize access to players through social media, behind the scenes content, and interactive fan engagement.
Building narratives around individual stars could mirror strategies from the music industry, where fans follow artists rather than labels, and where short form, shareable content drives loyalty.
Fragmented rights
Broadcasting rights are currently split across multiple platforms, leaving fans confused about where to watch. This fragmentation risks slowing audience growth. Greater collaboration between clubs and broadcasters could consolidate access, simplify viewing, and strengthen the game's profile.
From sponsorship to partnership
The term “partnership” better reflects the role sponsors should play in women’s football. Successful partners go beyond financial contributions, offering facilities, expertise, data, and tailored support that directly address the unique needs of women’s teams and players.
Patience and long term vision
The most consistent message was that women’s football requires patient capital. Quick returns are unlikely; instead, trust, engagement, and alignment with the long term vision are essential. This echoes themes from the investment discussions, suggesting patience may emerge as a central principle across the ecosystem.
Global disparities
Partnership markets are more mature in the UK and U.S., while mainland Europe and other regions lag behind. In some countries, there is skepticism about product quality, but this creates a chicken and egg dilemma: without committed partners, clubs and players cannot develop to the level that attracts further investment.
Opportunities for holistic engagement
- Partners can help build infrastructure and professional environments, ensuring women’s football is not treated as a secondary product.
- Data driven insights (e.g., fan engagement metrics, performance analytics) can be shared to accelerate growth.
- Partnerships should also focus on visibility, helping amplify the women’s game through marketing, media, and storytelling.
True partnership
True partners should see themselves as co-architects of the sport’s future, not just benefactors. By embedding themselves in the ecosystem, they can help shape sustainable growth, enhance credibility, and unlock commercial opportunities that benefit both the game and their own brand equity.
Clubs that achieve high attendance invest months in advance with marketing, preparation, and infrastructure. Sharing best practice, such as benchmarking stadium costs (security, medical staff, operations), could improve efficiency across the industry.
Strategies must reflect the female-leaning, family-oriented audience, requiring a different approach than men's football.
Creative partnerships, such as collaborations with music labels (e.g., Munich v. Juventus), show how cross-industry alliances can boost demand and commercial value.
Alignment between leagues, federations, and clubs
Growth requires federations to lead by example with a top-down approach. Many clubs lack resources to drive attendance or infrastructure development, and women's leagues often rely on outdated men's regulations. Greater coordination (potentially through independent league models) could create a stronger, more investable proposition. Examples from the U.S., Japan, and Mexico demonstrate how independent structures can accelerate growth.
Consumption patterns have shifted, and the women's game must respond
Younger audiences prefer highlights, short-form clips, and digital-first storytelling over full-match broadcasts. Production quality is a barrier: women's matches often use only 2 cameras compared to 64 in men's games, making the product appear slower. Free-to-air access, higher production values, and formats featuring presenters, influencers, and entertainment are key to building reach before pursuing premium broadcast deals.
Matchday experience as a commercial opportunity
Women's football crowds arrive earlier, stay longer, and spend more on hospitality and social experiences. Families and children dominate attendance, shaping a different atmosphere than men's football. Clubs should adapt with family friendly initiatives, such as Servette's children's programs where kids create songs played in stadiums, and rethink food, entertainment, and pricing strategies to maximize value.
Stadium selection and operational costs as strategic challenges
Large empty stadiums damage perception, while small venues risk undervaluing the product. High rental and staffing costs persist because federations apply men's regulations to women's matches. League-level intervention and investment in appropriate facilities (e.g., women-friendly changing rooms) would enable greater use of premium venues and elevate the game's profile.
Digital engagement as a growth lever
Women's players are more accessible and open to content creation, offering clubs opportunities to build lifestyle-oriented formats that resonate with younger fans. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are most popular, but fan-generated content faces quality and visibility challenges. Cultural barriers remain in some regions but are easing generationally, creating space for innovative digital strategies.
Structural and regulatory legacies holding back progress
Outdated rules: academy age limits, salary caps tied to revenue, post-Brexit restrictions, and unequal training structures, etc. fail to match the sport's rapid growth. Federations often lack ambition or resources to modernize. Independent or business-run leagues, as seen in the U.S., provide a model for more agile development.
Commercial interest is accelerating, but governance must keep pace
Brands increasingly recognize the value of a female-led audience with strong purchasing power. To translate enthusiasm into sustainable growth, leadership must modernize league structures, regulations, and governance. More women in decision-making roles will be critical to ensuring investment aligns with the long-term vision of the sport.
This extract was first published in The Rise of Women's Football: London Edition report, produced by The Rise of Women's Football in partnership with Hogan Lovells and GENSport. It is reprinted here with permission from The Rise of Women's Football. Access the full report here.
AI tools have been used to support the drafting of this publication. All content has been reviewed and approved by Hogan Lovells lawyers.
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