World Cup win will further boost sponsorship in Women’s Sport

* The following was first published by Australian Sponsorship News on 26/06/2020 https://www.sponsorshipnews.com.au/*

The successful bid by Australia and Zealand to host the FIFA women’s world cup 2023 will maintain momentum in sponsorship of women’s sport, particularly at a time when other sponsorship sectors face cuts, says global event expert.

Group account director at Octagon Australia, Tom Healey, said the significance of winning the bid can’t be understated.

“Conservative attendance projections position FWWC2023 as ten times larger than the hugely successful ICC Women’s T20 tournament hosted in Australia earlier in 2020,” Healey said.

“From a broadcast perspective, FIFA reported that the 2019 Women’s World Cup reached over 1 billion people - a 30% increase on 2015.

 “The expansion from 24 to 32 teams for the first time will generate further interest and expand the reach into new markets. As the figures suggest, this is a whole new ballgame.” 

“There is a strong rationale for brands to double-down on investment in partnerships which offer commercial benefits but also champion social progress,” Healey said. 

Australia has experienced a strong increase in female football participation (11% growth between 2018 – 2019) and the emergence of the Matildas as one of Australia’s most beloved sporting teams, paints an attractive picture for brands with an eye on football. 

“This is likely to create a more competitive marketplace - which should deliver positive outcomes for the sport, but could make sponsoring the women’s game a more costly exercise,” he added.

The current partnership structure for the FWWC is tied to that of the men’s tournament and as such the 6 FIFA Partners are in the box seat –Adidas, Coca-Cola, Hyundai and Kia, Qatar Airways, Wanda Group and Visa. 

While the hierarchy for the men’s tournament involves three tiers - FIFA Partners, FIFA World Cup Sponsors, and Regional Supporters, the existing hierarchy for the women's event has two - FIFA Partners and a second tier for National Partners in the host country that sponsor the tournament.

However, FIFA officials have declared their intention to set up a new commercial strategy from 2022, which could separate the rights of the two tournaments (as seen in UEFA) and may provide stand-alone FWWC tournament partners and additional national sponsor slots.

Healey said this would be a critical development as it would mean the brands with rights to sponsor the women’s event, would be meaningfully invested in doing so, rather than being involved by virtue of their alignment with the men’s event.

“A National Sponsor deal will likely cost upwards of USD$2m at FWWC2023, which means the required investment puts an official relationship with the tournament beyond the reach of many brands, but it is not the only way to be involved in women’s football more broadly,” he said.

“In 2018, Mastercard announced the signing of a team of leading footballers as brand ambassadors including Samantha Kerr and Ada Hegerberg, the first women’s Ballon d’Or Feminin winner.

(The Ballon d'Or Feminin is the most prestigious individual award in women’s football.)

“At a more local level the W League, established in 2008, is a solid platform for the game in Australia and will no doubt benefit from the increased interest, as will the grassroots game, with participation expected to continue growing.

“Whilst these opportunities have clear restrictions around aligning with FIFA, the cost of entry is lower.” 

Octagon has a long history working with FIFA and its partners in both the men’s and women’s game, including the FWC2018 in Russia, where Octagon worked with 7 FIFA and tournament partners, including Budweiser, Kia/Hyundai, Hublot and Coca Cola and the women’s World Cup in 2019.