Structuring women’s football: Where to start?

Following the success of the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, women’s football has seen a rise in broadcast figures and an increased number, diversity and value of partnerships. At the same time, COVID-19 has posed an “existential threat” as per FIFPro’s “Raising Our Game” report released in 2020. 

What is the reality of, and prospects for, the women’s football market?

We have gathered industry experts to chime in on the women’s game, with a specific view on how it can maintain momentum it has created in the last few years.

As Gavin Makel, Head of Women’s Football at Manchester City highlighted in the Women’s Football with Manchester City and PSG meetup ¨COVID-19 is a roadblock, but at the same time I believe it’s going to create new opportunities for us to engage with fans in a more creative way, to attract some new fans, and attract more broadcasting deals.”

We believe that the global pandemic has presented a big opportunity to take women’s football to the next level. One of the main challenges in women’s football is the lack of strategies and structures that many organizations have. While some organizations such as Olympique Lyonnais, Chelsea, and FC Barcelona are leading the way to change the game, there are many others that lack the blueprint to take women’s football forward.

Throughout this article, we will cover topics such as what opportunities lie ahead for women’s football, what stakeholders can do to accelerate growth, and the importance of structuring women’s football in order to propel forward.

Professionalizing women’s football is a popular topic these days, especially with the rise of diversity, inclusion & equity discussions. While important in its own right, decision-makers at right holders would benefit from having the right structure for women’s football in place at their organization.  

In most clubs where there are both men’s and women’s teams, the latter relies heavily on the structure of the former’s commercial, performance, operational and administrative structure. This is efficient but also robs the women’s team of independence and autonomy. In this scenario, whatever happens on and off the field to the men’s team, the women’s team will be affected by it. Clubs would benefit from structuring the women’s department separately from the men’s, whilst outlining the shared services. By doing this, football organizations can accelerate growth through a more agile structure that allows for experimentation on the sporting, business & operational sides.

The complexity of the football ecosystem means that the question of ownership and leadership of women’s football remains vague at best. With a departure point that requires continuous investment and improvement, it is important to guide efforts, funding & services in an efficient manner. This is why the development of a blueprint or strategic roadmap for implementation is important. It can align the different actors working on women’s football.

The ACFF in Spain (Women’s Football Club’s Association) was created in 2015 by 13 founding club members and the support of LaLiga, with the objective of developing, promoting and elevating women’s football clubs and its players. Today, it has over 70 affiliated women’s football clubs across the first, second and third divisions. The strategic objectives of the ACFF are to professionalize club management structures, increase women’s football promotion and visibility, and enable clubs to reach higher levels of excellence.

With that strategic direction, the association with the backing of LaLiga implemented the Club Development Program to provide relevant resources, guidance and incentives to the ACFF club members. The program consists of incentives subject to completion of various criteria and requisites depending on the size and maturity of the club, demanding more from clubs that are further developed and in higher divisions. Thus, to receive funding a club needs to meet certain goals throughout the season that are established in the program and validated with consensus by the ACFF board every season. Regarding club management structures, the support has aimed at having specialized human capital and headcount in areas of directors & managers, finance & admin, commercial & marketing, and communications & digital. To support Women’s Football promotion and awareness, the program allocates incentives if a club meets specific targets on diverse initiatives: school visits, promotion in digital environments, CSR actions, Grassroots, and many others. 

The results have been outstanding: over €5M in direct funding to clubs since 2016 from LaLiga through the ACFF, with nearly two thousand initiatives that have been implemented across the country and within communities of both developing and mature clubs, receiving the support and guidance throughout their journey. Moreover, the ACFF with the support of LaLiga have been able to contribute in the building up of solid foundations and a cultural shift towards excellence and consistent work on and off the field.

On June 15th the Spanish women’s football league became professional and one of the reasons that the professionalization of the league is happening is because all the clubs in the first division have the basic structure with the necessary organizational departments thanks to the work that ACFF and LaLiga have been doing. 

By professionalizing the league, the opportunities that lie ahead for the Spanish football clubs are massive. It will allow the clubs to have access to more capital and human resources, better infrastructure and facilities will be able to generate more revenue and they will be able to commercialize assets and TV rights. 

In the case of European women’s football, by redesigning and restructuring the UEFA Women’s Champions League competition, the competition will have more competitive matches, more teams playing which will give more visibility to the women’s game. This new structure has already attracted new commercial partners for next season.

Right holders need to understand and realize that investing in women’s football and having the proper resources in place will drive long-term gains and that the ROI in women’s football goes beyond on-the-pitch results. As the President of UEFA, Aleksander Čeferin stated, “the development of women’s football should not be driven by short-term gain but a long-term vision¨.

Women’s football teams are a conduit to engage with a new audience, connect in a different way to global brands, and values. Their modest growth in the first decade of the 21st Century allowed them to develop into a more authentic, values-based, influencer-driven football proposition. These are precisely the aspects that attract and engage millennials, Gen Z, and generation Alpha, which is why brands are flocking to women’s football.

Our team of experts at N3XT Sports can help your organization to be one of the first movers in the industry. We can help your organization to have the right structure and strategy in place in order to propel forward and take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. Email us at arianna@n3xtsports.com or fill out the form below and we will reach out to you as soon as possible.