There is a strong buzz around women’s football from all industry stakeholders, be it fans, sponsors, players or investors. Many analysts have projected women’s football as one of the key trends anticipated in 2026. This goes in line with a report published in 2025 by Nielsen Sports which stated, women’s football set to enter global top 5 sports by 2030 with over 800mn fans. And for a good bunch of reasons. We have seen a steady increase in commercial revenue from key women’s leagues and competitions around along with a rise in viewership, steady flow of stadium attendances.
All such indicators point to a period of growth, but it also comes with a whole set of challenges. In more ways than one, women’s football is like a start-up which has proved its use case, has the potential to scale-up, attracting fans and therefore luring investments. Like a start-up it also needs to be managed effectively in all fronts for the ‘growth explosion’ everyone is rooting for.
In this blog, we look at the increasing growth of women’s football and the set of challenges it faces.
Revenue
Revenue data for the 15 highest revenue generating women’s football clubs released by Deloitte in their Football Money League 2026 report vindicates the growth story. Total revenue generated by the top 15 clubs in 24/25 is €157mn which is a 35% growth over its 23/24 aggregate of €117mn. This reflects a continuous growth at an astonishing 44% CAGR since 2021/22!
To understand what caused this growth, we have to look few years back. Although it’s hard to pinpoint the exact trigger point for the growth, but certainly the victory of English women’s team, the Lionesses, at Euro 2022 accelerated the interest levels in Europe. Popularity of women’s football took a quantum leap since then. What followed seems like a chain reaction. The game witnessed a sustained growth in attendance, viewership, fandom leading to strong interest from brands related to sponsorships and thus led to a sustained growth in commercial revenue.
For the top 15 clubs with highest revenue, commercial stream has been contributing enormously. In 23/24, the share was 63% of the total revenue which increased to 73% in 24/25. This can be seen as an indication towards the power of women’s football in securing independent sponsorships.
In the inaugural season 24/25 of Women’s Super League Football Limited (WSLF), the newly formed company overseeing the top two tiers of English women’s football, commercial revenue stream also contributes almost 50% of its total revenue. This is a vindication of the commercial strength of women’s football and is only expected to grow further.
Fandom Growth
What prompts these rise in sponsorship is the increased levels of fan interest. In the report from Nielsen (mentioned above), the global fandom of women’s football is expected to touch 800mn by 2030, rising from estimated 500mn in 2025. The report also mentions:
- 60% of fans will be female by 2030 — creating one of the few sports where women represent the majority audience.
- Women are expected to control 75% of household purchasing decisions by 2028, underscoring the urgency for brands to act.
- 47% of fans are among the top global earners, and 50% are aged 25–44 — a prime commercial demographic.
- The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup reached a media engagement audience of 2 billion, while sponsorship deals tripled compared to 2019.
Commercial proposition of any game depends solely on the fans. Going by the report and the faith shown by brands at present, women’s football is in for a growth explosion. To put in facts, Women’s Super League (WSL), top-tier women’s football league in England, has secured seven sponsorship agreements for the 2025/26 season, an increase from its existing three partnerships as per GlobalData. Further, the WSL is expected to generate an estimated $23.53mn in sponsorship revenue for the 2025/26 season, increasing almost one and half times from the existing estimated $14.72mn.
According to Ampere Analysis, “number of women’s-only sponsorship deals across Europe’s top domestic leagues has increased by 53% since the 2022/23 season, reaching 181 deals. Growth has been recorded in every major European league except France’s Première Ligue”, which shows a significant rise in interest from brands.
Dedicated Investment
The increase in revenue, rising fan-interest levels, increasing viewership and attendances, high-decibel public discussions has led to women’s football beginning to stand on its own feet. Potential growth is seen and dedicated investment interests are definitely piqued. Women’s football is now at the juncture where investment funds are being planned exclusively for them.
Take the German Football Association (DFB), who have plans to elevate women’s football in Germany to a new structural and economic level. Starting in 2026, the Women’s Bundesliga will operate under its own company and will be funded with €100 million over eight years. With this step, the DFB aims to professionalise the league, make it internationally competitive, and prevent top players from moving abroad.
Similarly, an investment group called Mercury/13 have pledged to invest more than £80m buying and transforming women’s clubs around the world making it a dedicated women’s multi-club investment group. First, the group bought FC Como Women, a mid-table team in Serie A Femminile in 2024 followed by acquiring a majority stake in Bristol City Women in late 2025. The group then made a subsequent foray in Spain in March 2026, by making a majority investment in Liga F club FC Badalona Women.
In all, there are four active multi-club investment groups operating dedicatedly across women’s football and a fifth group, Bay Collective with investment from Sixth Street launched in Jan 2025 with the aim of acquiring women’s clubs.
Challenges
With a positive base, backing of rising fandom and intent-based investments, both across sponsorships by brands as well as governing clubs with dedicated focus, women’s football has just begun the journey. The road is laced with multiple challenges, especially three key structural challenges which will need to be addressed at the earliest.
Ensuring availability – At this juncture, women’s football has a strong base of fans and proven the commercial capability. It is now poised to grow. To accelerate this growth, it is very important to ensure availab ility of the leagues & games to a wider audience base. Be it through linear or streaming, or even both, the league and federations will have to create a strategic availability path.
Develop fan base – With availability comes the task of gathering fans under one umbrella. This requires a dedicated, content-led marketing push to connect with fans and build loyalty. A UK-wide insight study covering over 1500 fans named The Fan Gap published by Hark explicitly states:
- 40% of young people can’t name a single sportswoman, highlighting a major visibility gap despite huge recent progress across women’s sport.
- Further, girls’ fandom drops sharply during secondary school – from 62% of 11–13-year-olds to 50% of 16–17-year-olds, while boys’ fandom remains steady at around 75%.
- This is not all, 1 in 3 girl fans do not know where to watch women’s sport, and 40% struggle to find highlights or clips.
All this points to the emphasis of authentic content laced with purpose-driven storytelling covering topics like player’s journey or the club essence and so on.
Deep fan engagement – The thrust towards developing fan base will have to be supported by multiple initiatives to create authentic fan engagement with the aim of building a culture. While digital-first initiatives also ensure a steady flow of fan-data which further aids in customized engagements, physical engagement zones around the club complex or prominent locations also adds to building the connect and culture.
In Conclusion
Women’s football is standing on its own feet. It’s high time it begins to run. The way things look, it is definitely showing all the signs of a long haul, fast paced journey. As Dr. Christina Philippou, a football finance expert, puts “There is a lot of potential and better value for money investing in women’s sport at the moment compared to men’s sport. But that needs to be sustained and grown in a way that then allows women’s football to come out of this growth phase and become a more mature league.”
We look forward to this!
