Barclays have doubled their investment in women’s football by penning a new three-year sponsorship deal with the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship.
The move is understood to be worth more than £30m to both the English leagues, representing the biggest injection of cash to date. Women’s football has very recently entered a new era, after it was confirmed last month that a deal to transfer ownership of the top two tiers of the women’s pyramid to a new independent company had closed, temporarily named Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL).
CEO Nikki Doucet has made it no secret that she intends to create a more competitive and sustainable future for the women’s game, through collaboration and building audiences. Barclays first became the title sponsor of the WSL in 2019, in what became the biggest investment ever made by a brand into women’s sport in the UK.
Since then, women’s football has seen exponential growth. The WSL is the most followed women’s domestic league with 3.2m followers and average attendance at matches up 283% since the 2021/22 season. The bank have also pledged their long-term commitment to grassroots women’s football by renewing their partnership with The FA for another three years, through the Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships.
It’s a well-known fact that 64% of girls will drop sports by the time they finish puberty, and the initiative works with schools to give them better opportunities in the space. The number of participating schools rose from 3,000 in 2019 to 20,000 in 2024. Barclays will be deploying a new programme that will identify pupils who show potential from within schools, connect the pathway between education and football and provide critical support to talented players and their families.
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