Off The Pitch: Business

The NWSL has come a far way from how the league started out in 2013. Among those changes is the amount of investment that clubs and club owners have poured into their teams. Which clubs are leading the way in giving women’s football the investment and respect it deserves?

Former NBA star Pau Gasol has long been a vocal supporter of women’s football. In 2023, following the controversy involving Jenni Hermoso and Luis Rubiales after Spain’s World Cup final victory over England, he publicly backed Hermoso and called for the players to be supported and listened to.

What minimum wages does the collective agreement currently guarantee to female footballers, what safeguards does it provide, and why has its future now found itself at an impasse?

While most leagues in the world allow clubs to spend as much as they’re willing to build their squad, the NWSL in the United States follows a time-honored American sports tradition: a salary cap. Let's deep dive into it.

When the NWSL first kicked off in 2013, there were only three official league-wide sponsors and one broadcasting partner who agreed to air just nine matches that season. The club themselves relied on small local partnerships for their front of kit sponsors, with each club having only one to two. Today, the league has 15 league-wide partnerships with brands and 12 media partners, including four broadcasters. More impressively, clubs’ individual sponsorships add up to over 400 brand partners.

While the first organized attempts by Italian women to play football date back to 1932, when a group of female students in Milan began playing the sport, the regime at the time systematically suppressed their efforts. Soon after, the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) even banned female athletes from participating in football competitions. 

It's actually happening. Alexia Putellas is transferring to London City Lionesses. What seemed to be impossible last season is now reality. When La Reina Announced her departure from Barcelona after 14 years, all eyes were on Michele Kang.