January 22 – World Sevens Football (W7F) has appointed Claire Bloomfield as its chief of football affairs and governance at a moment when the sport is actively rethinking format, calendar, and commercial scale.
Bloomfield will lead relationships with federations, confederations, leagues, clubs, and player representatives, while guiding W7F’s competitive and regulatory framework as the tournament looks to find its place in the rapidly growing women’s football ecosystem.
The aim, W7F says, is to ensure “strong alignment between sporting ambition, commercial objectives, and the evolving global football landscape.”
As investment accelerates and new properties emerge alongside traditional formats and UEFA and FIFA competitions, governance credibility has become as important as innovation. W7F’s short-format, high-intensity model is designed for modern audiences and commercial partners, but its long-term legitimacy will depend on cooperation with existing structures.
With nearly two decades in the game, Bloomfield’s resume includes senior roles at English clubs and, most recently, as head of women’s football at the European Club Association. Her work included reforms to the Women’s Champions League, helping drive the creation of a second European club competition, influencing the international match calendar with FIFA and supporting the establishment of the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup.
W7F CEO Sarah Cummins described the appointment as arriving “at a pivotal inflection point for both our business and the wider women’s game,” adding that Bloomfield’s leadership would be central to building “a sustainable, scaled global competition platform that delivers long-term commercial value… while keeping players and clubs at the centre of every decision we make.”
Bloomfield said the appeal lay in W7F’s willingness “to genuinely reimagine the future of women’s football,” adding: “W7F is prepared to think beyond established formats, act with intent, and turn vision into reality.”
Launched in 2025, W7F has already staged tournaments in Portugal and the United States, featuring elite European brands and, more recently, leading clubs from the Americas. The next phase now demands structure to match ambition.