Women in Football: Swinging High and Jumping off Headfirst

Reshma Saujani once said, "Most girls are taught to avoid risk and failure. We're taught to smile pretty, play it safe, get all A's. Boys, on the other hand, are taught to play rough, swing high, crawl to the top of the monkey bars, and then just jump off headfirst." But who says girls can't swing high and jump off headfirst while still looking pretty? Certainly not Michelle Kang, the first woman to helm a Multi-Club Ownership (MCO) in women's football.

The MCO model is not new to football, and it has brought several benefits to clubs, such as governance, commercial deals, player scouting and development, and transfers across clubs. Many American owners and Venture Capital groups have jumped in and started investing in football teams and across sports in order to diversify their portfolios. In fact, 10 Premier League clubs – or half the league – are a part of a MCO.?

Under one overall structure that runs all the clubs, best practices are shared amongst all the different verticals, leading to more efficient operations. With sharing different roles and positions, this can also have cost-saving measures and thus increased revenues overall. Larger sponsorship deals could be agreed upon across all the clubs, getting more visibility for the sponsor across multiple markets.

As for player scouting and development, having multiple clubs working together could be a great benefit, especially when one club is American with?no Training Compensation mechanism while in Europe there is. Thus players could go to Lyon for formation and then be sold or moved to the other clubs, creating new revenue streams in the women’s game. Another point could be a similar playing style implemented across the clubs, allowing for youth to be integrated seamlessly into the first teams and across the clubs themselves.

The MCO model is not the only innovation happening in women's football in the United States. The United Soccer League (USL) ’s new women’s professional league, the Women’s Super League, was set to commence in 2023 as a Division II women’s soccer league. Fast forward two years and the USL has announced that they are applying for Division I status and will be competing directly with the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) , though the schedules will be different. Knowing the woman at the helm of this project, Amanda Vandervort , it is guaranteed that this is not the only innovative difference between the two leagues.

Women in football are showing the world that they are not going to sit in a corner and just look pretty. Women are willing to take charge and take chances in order to see this beautiful game grow and develop. With the rise of MCOs and challenging the current footballing structure, the future of women's football is looking bright.

I love that this is happening in the women’s game and can’t wait to follow Michelle’s success and see what club is next to be added to the portfolio. What do you think about these exciting developments in women's football? Let me know in the comments below.