UEFA unbundles sponsorship rights for women's competitions

UEFA is breaking down the traditional sports sponsorship model to accelerate the growth of women’s football competitions and get more girls and women playing football. More than 30 sports marketing experts will hear about this and discuss other innovative ideas for growing the women’s game when they gather in London today.

The latest Leaders Generation XX Series think tank, delivered in partnership with UEFA, is meeting at Stamford Bridge to discuss the prospect of ’unbundling‘ sponsorship rights, how to measure return on investment, co-creating assets with brands and current industry examples of best practice.

UEFA is looking to lead the way by unbundling its rights and appointing a sales agency specifically for women’s football sponsorship, with a view to creating new offerings to support the growth and development of women’s competitions and, as part of its Together #WePlayStrong campaign, to get more girls and women playing football. The sponsorship of UEFA Women’s EURO 2021, the UEFA Women’s Champions League as of 2018 and UEFA’s women’s national team youth competitions has been unbundled from UEFA’s men’s competitions, packaged together for the first time and put out to tender together with grassroots participation initiatives such as Together #WePlayStrong.

The Generation XX Series think tank will also receive presentations by Lidl, Manchester City FC, Sky, Facebook and Twitter. Among the brands and organisations represented in the think tank itself will be ITV, Williams F1, EY, the British Olympic Association, WWE, PepsiCo, the Rugby Football League, Jaguar Land Rover, England Rugby and hosts Chelsea FC.

UEFA’s partnership with the Leaders Generation XX Series has provided European football’s governing body with an additional platform on which to promote its first-ever pan-European women’s football marketing campaign, Together #WePlayStrong, which is an integral part of UEFA’s five-year strategic plan to make football the number one sport among girls and women across Europe.

By bringing together stakeholders from all sides of the sports industry, UEFA aims to feed key findings back into its women’s football sponsorship strategy, with a view to accelerating the pace of change in transforming the overall image of the game.

Commenting on the Generation XX Series, Peter Willems, UEFA’s head of marketing activities and sponsorship, said: “UEFA is firmly committed to increasing the number of girls playing football and building strong, sustainable women’s competitions. Opportunities such as today’s think tank are invaluable in opening up the debate around innovative sponsorship models that can help grow the game.

“By gathering some of the key stakeholders in women’s sport we can share experiences, reflecting not only on the progress that has been made, but also on how challenges have been overcome, which all adds to our depth of knowledge. Great strides have been made this year, with Together #WePlayStrong reaching more than 10 million girls already, and the Leaders Generation XX Series is another important element in support of our long-term vision to make football the number one sport among girls and women across Europe.”

Since the launch of Together #WePlayStrong in June this year, UEFA has committed significant investments and resources to creating a dedicated women’s football team that spans football development, marketing and sponsorship, national associations and communications. The team includes specialist consultants providing support to each of UEFA’s 55 member associations, predominantly in the form of workshops. On the basis of these workshops, local action plans will be created to help each national association market the game in its country and sell its vision more effectively, ensuring they have everything they need to showcase the growing number of opportunities there are for girls and women to get involved in football.

UEFA’s ambition to get more girls and women involves enhancing the profile and image of the game, increasing visibility and engagement, driving participation at grassroots level and increasing investment.

For more information about UEFA’s Together #WePlayStrong campaign visit weplaystrong.org