The Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship have secured their most lucrative commercial deal yet after signing a three-year title-sponsorship agreement with Barclays bank, understood to be worth more than £30m to the leagues in hard cash.
The exact figures have not been disclosed but Barclays has confirmed it is doubling the value of its previous investment and, according to multiple Guardian sources, the new deal will bring in at least £9m to £10m per season to the top two women’s leagues through the title sponsorship fee alone, plus significant marketing commitments on top of that which would take the overall value of the partnership to about £45m.
All of that is understood to be in addition to the bank’s further contributions to grassroots women’s football through another new, extended deal with the Football Association. The bank is extending its work with the FA through the Barclays Girls’ Football School Partnerships programme to 2028. The number of schools participating in that programme rose from 3,000 in 2019 to 20,000 so far this year. In 2021, when announcing the deal with Barclays from the start of the 2022-23 season until the end of the 2024-25 campaign, the FA announced that the bank was making a “£30m investment in women and girls’ football” overall, a large portion of which related to its schools partnership contributions, but since then the sponsorship valuation has soared.
This latest title sponsorship of the leagues represents a very significant financial injection for the WSL and Championship, which were taken over by a new entity called Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) in August, after breaking away from the auspices of the FA for the first time. WPLL’s chief mission is to make the top two women’s leagues financially sustainable. Until now, the new company has predominantly been financed by a £20m loan from the men’s Premier League, which is “long term and on favourable terms”, WPLL has said.
Barclays also announced on Monday morning that it has extended its deal as the Premier League’s banking partner by a further four years to 2029. The bank was the Premier League’s title sponsor until 2016, having had an association with the men’s top flight since 2001.
It has been the women’s top league’s title sponsor since 2019 and Monday’s three-year extension is worth around four times the annual amount of that first deal, and around twice the annual figures that were agreed in the most recent extension in 2022, for purely the title sponsorship rights.
The former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright, who is an ambassador for the bank, said: “We constantly talk about the sustainability of women’s football and the need for increased investment and long-term partners to truly accelerate the growth. Barclays are once again leading the way with their commitment. This investment is exactly what’s needed to not only continue the growth but to ensure the game is sustainable for future generations.”
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WPLL’s chief executive, the former Nike director Nikki Doucet, added: “This record multi-year investment demonstrates long-term commitment and is important because it provides positive endorsement and increased support for what we are trying to accomplish.”