What is behind Pau Gasol's historic investment in the Liga F?

Former NBA player 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.

Both before and since then, the former basketball star has repeatedly expressed his support for women’s football and his passion for the game. Three years later, in 2026, Gasol spearheaded the largest investment ever made in Liga F, aimed at accelerating the growth and international profile of Spain’s top women’s league.

Liga F and Gasol16 Ventures, Pau Gasol’s investment and business vehicle, have reached an agreement that will see the company become a strategic investor in the competition. The deal is valued at €55 million and will be rolled out over four seasons, beginning with the 2026/27 campaign.

The agreement represents the largest private capital investment to date in European women’s sport.

One of the investment’s main objectives is to increase the value of the Liga F brand and its clubs, strengthening their sporting, media and commercial appeal and, in turn, expanding their ability to generate revenue in the medium and long term.

The investment also comes at a significant moment for a competition that has experienced rapid growth in recent years and is considered to have considerable room for further development. In the 2024/25 season, Liga F distributed €17 million among its clubs, while its cumulative television audience almost doubled over a two-season period.

As Gasol and Liga F president Beatriz Álvarez Mesa explained at the launch event, the investment is intended to support clubs in areas including sporting development, organisational structures and commercial operations, while also helping them strengthen their relationship with supporters.

Why some Liga F clubs are pushing back

However, despite the scale of the announcement, the proposed €55 million investment has not received unanimous backing from Liga F clubs.

Real Madrid publicly announced their opposition to the agreement, with Athletic Club following suit a few days later. The Basque club issued a statement to its members outlining the reasons behind its decision, arguing that “the distribution of risks and profits between the fund and the clubs is unbalanced”.

Real Madrid had previously disclosed several details of the proposed agreement, which Athletic expanded upon in its own statement.

“The expectation is that Liga F’s commercial revenue will grow exponentially. And from that growth in revenue, the fund would benefit far more than even Liga F itself and the clubs that make it up,” Athletic said. The club also provided further details of the financial structure behind the agreement.

Athletic Club questions the financial model

“The fund will receive 49 per cent of the gross commercial revenue generated by Liga F over the next 25 years until its investment has been recouped, and 35 per cent thereafter. However, the costs incurred in generating that revenue (except for the first four years) will be borne exclusively by the clubs,” the statement explained.

Athletic also argued that choosing not to participate would not entirely shield individual clubs from the consequences of the agreement.

“Even if a club chooses not to receive funding, it will continue to form part of a competition whose future commercial revenue will be tied up by the contract signed by Liga F, and it will continue to bear all of Liga F’s costs. Therefore, the decision not to join does not eliminate the risks associated with the operation, even though clubs such as Athletic have decided not to take part in it,” the club said.

Athletic Club, Real Madrid and Real Sociedad were ultimately the three clubs that opposed the investment after reviewing the proposal.

Barcelona, meanwhile, adopted a more cautious position. The Catalan club voted in favour of the agreement but later issued a statement making clear that it would examine the specific terms of the deal before deciding whether to formally join the project.