Net Profit: The Business of Women's Pro Football (Soccer‪)‬ Women's Football Group

Sarah Walsh (Head of Women's Football and Women's World Cup Legacy at Football Australia) spoke with Women's Football Group's Eric Cohen-Peckham in December about her team's efforts to propel the Australian Women's National Team (nicknamed The Matildas) into the heart of mainstream pop culture ahead of the World Cup, from 2019 to now. The Australia vs. England match in August 2023 was the most watched live TV broadcast in Australian history and Sam Kerr is the country's biggest sports star. How did it happen? What can other federation, league, and team executives learn from it?

Bettina Baer is a lead consultant in the Zurich office of sports agency Two Circles who led the creation of the women's football (soccer) strategy report for the Deutsche Fußballbund, Germany's football association. She also contributed to similar reports that Two Circles produced with the Women's Sport Trust in England and Sporsora in France.

In this episode, she shares her analysis of the growth in Germany, the increasingly popular Big Games Strategy for attracting new fans by clubs like Arsenal, and what the data shows about women's football fan demographics across Europe.

Women's football agent Lindi Ngwenya, founder of London-based Sisu Sports Management, discusses how she is seeing talent and leagues develop across Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and LatAm and what it suggests about women's football's next stage of development.

What are the opportunities and challenges brand sponsors see as they evaluate sponsorship opportunities with leagues, clubs, and athletes across women's pro football (soccer)? What can you do to improve your sponsorship sales efforts to them?

This episode's guest is Jenny Mitton, Managing Partner & Women's Sport Lead at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, one of the leading sports marketing firms in the UK, guiding top brands like Barclays, O2, BMW, and Virgin Media on their sponsorship efforts.



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Net Profit is a new podcast featuring discussions on the business of growing women's professional football (aka soccer) around the world. It will cover topics like offline community building, social media marketing, event production, ticketing strategy, merch strategy, and more. Subscribe to the show to listen to the first episodes.



Net Profit is a project by Women's Football Group.