November 16 – In a bid to make the women’s game more sustainable and accelerate the growth of the game, UEFA is unbundling commercial rights for its women’s competitions and appoint a sales agency specifically for women’s football sponsorship.
As part of the Leaders Generation XX Series think tank, more than 30 sports marketing experts attended a day-long session at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, to hear about UEFA’s proposals and discuss other ways the women’s game can be advanced.
The sponsorship of UEFA Women’s EURO 2021, the UEFA Women’s Champions League as of 2018 and UEFA’s women’s national team youth competitions have for the first time had their marketing and commercial rights separated from UEFA’s men’s competitions. They are being packaged into a tender tender together with grassroots participation initiatives such as Together #WePlayStrong.
Peter Willems, UEFA’s head of marketing activities and sponsorship, said: “UEFA is firmly committed to increasing the number of girls playing football and building strong, sustainable women’s competitions. Opportunities such as today’s think tank are invaluable in opening up the debate around innovative sponsorship models that can help grow the game.”
UEFA is looking to accelerate the pace of change in the women’s game as part of five-year strategic plan and has invested in dedicated resource and programmes to achieve this.
“By gathering some of the key stakeholders in women’s sport we can share experiences, reflecting not only on the progress that has been made, but also on how challenges have been overcome, which all adds to our depth of knowledge,” said Willems.
“Great strides have been made this year, with Together #WePlayStrong reaching more than 10 million girls already, and the Leaders Generation XX Series is another important element in support of our long-term vision to make football the number one sport among girls and women across Europe.”
Attendees received presentations from Lidl, Manchester City FC, Sky, Facebook and Twitter. Among the brands and organisations represented were ITV, Williams F1, EY, the British Olympic Association, WWE, PepsiCo, the Rugby Football League, Jaguar Land Rover, England Rugby and hosts Chelsea FC.
Contact the writer of this story at paul.nicholson@insideworldfootball.com