The new playbook for women’s football: ownership, investment and growth

Inspired by a fascinating one day summit on 5 March, co-hosted in London by Charles Russell Speechlys and Women’s Super League Football (WSL), entitled “The New Playbook: Shaping the Future of Women’s Professional Football Club Ownership and Growth”, members of our  women’s sports group offer their reflections on the extraordinary developments taking place in English women’s football, and how current and future club owners and investors will likely respond to the growth opportunities ahead.

The new landscape

Arsenal Women now regularly attract crowds of 30,000 people to their home Barclays WSL matches at the Emirates Stadium. The first £1million transfer fee for a woman player was agreed in summer 2025. The commercial revenues and global viewership for women’s football are at record levels. And yet – unbelievably – women were actually banned in England from playing football on FA-affiliated pitches, from 1921 until 1971.

England is now the only country in Europe with two fully professional leagues, both operated by WSL Football. Gaining its independence from the English FA in 2024, WSL Football is undoubtedly leading the charge in the women’s game.

A defining and distinct philosophy

WSL Football recognises that, although women’s football is the same sport as the men’s game, it is ultimately delivering a different product, with a distinct set of values and objectives, and offers a new consumer experience.

The ambition of WSL Football’s senior leadership is to differentiate the product and to drive ‘fandom’ of the game on behalf of all clubs is clear. Prudent topflight expansion and the power of genuine jeopardy underscore recent sporting policy decisions. For instance, from the 2026/27 season there will be 2 more teams in the first tier, Barclays WSL, with a play-off game between bottom club in the Barclays WSL against the third placed finisher in the Barclays WSL2 determining promotion/relegation.

Such an incredible, high stakes game is certain to generate keen interest from the fans of the teams involved and, crucially, the broader sporting public. The play-off game and other innovations and reforms are designed to raise the profile and extend the appeal of the game to a new type of fan, for a new era. Driven by extensive data analysis (research shows that 1 in 3 WSL fans are new, and only 5-10% have a cross over with men’s football), such decisions demonstrate the importance of having the right people, making the right decisions with access to the best available evidence if leagues are to succeed in the new rapidly evolving sports economy.

New entrants/innovative investment structures

The launch of WSL Football as an independent company coincided with other eye-catching entrants in the sector. From the tech entrepreneur/Hollywood celebrity consortium backing the launch of Angel City in the US, to the acquisition of London City Lionesses by US sports investor Michele Kang, and its subsequent promotion to the top division of the Barclays WSL. A wave of specialist women’s sports funds has appeared, actively scouting the market for opportunities.

Having already bought into the FC Como women’s team, sports fund Mercury13 recently acquired a majority stake in Bristol City Women and is seeking further investments. This ‘multi club ownership’ (MCO) model is emerging as a preferred approach for some new investors in the women’s football space, with participation in WSL Football clubs being a prime target for MCO portfolios. Economies of scale and the balanced accumulation of sports assets across different markets can distribute exposure and help de-risk investments in early-stage sports ventures, which the majority of women’s teams are.

One of the investors at the New Playbook summit commented that, “on a risk adjusted basis, European women’s football represents the best opportunity in sport for investment at the moment”. The current and potential future competition rules and dual ownership regulations must of course always be borne in mind when devising a MCO strategy, as recently demonstrated in the men’s game with the Crystal Palace and Lyon stakes owned by the same ownership group but both qualifying for the Europa League.

Identifying the optimum investment partners

Specialist, knowledgeable investors offering strategic value as well as patient, growth capital may represent the most attractive partners at this point in the cycle. The multiple on invested capital in the women’s game is arguably likely to be higher than currently available in the far more mature economy of the men’s game. Moreover, the investment ‘ticket’ sizes to buy into the women’s game are typically far lower than for men’s teams, providing achievable investment opportunities for the smaller venture funds.

The global fame of many of the WSL Football club brands, the depth and breadth of support for football in the UK, the number of international players playing with WSL Football clubs, alongside the collaborative approach and robust governance and operating standards which WSL football is promoting, together offer a favourable environment for investors, whether current ownership groups or new entrants.  

Bespoke solutions for unique assets

As the vast majority of WSL Football clubs are owned within men’s football ownership structures, bringing in third party capital focussed specifically on the women’s team opportunity necessarily involves some reimagining and re-engineering of existing arrangements. This process will need to address matters relating to brand control/use, stadia and facilities ownership and use, management of other shared resources, levels of autonomy and self-governance, etc.

There is a wide range of ownership and investment structures across women’s football, the most common models being:

• 100% acquisition (e.g. Michele Kang’s acquisition of London City Lionesses and Crux Football’s acquisition of Montpellier HSC Féminines);
• minority or “passive” investment (e.g. Seven Seven Six’s investment in Chelsea FC Women and a consortium of US investors’ investment in Aston Villa Women); and
• partnerships / joint ventures (e.g. Michele Kang’s investment in Olympique Lyonnais Féminin and Monarch Collective’s investment in FC Viktoria Berlin).  

The investment model for a club will be largely dependent on the broader regulatory framework, the investor’s wider investment strategy and the club stakeholders involved.

The potential for investing in third tier clubs seeking to ‘do a Wrexham’ and eventually compete in the top tiers, is also an exciting prospect, potentially bringing greater resource to the base of the pyramid.

As the distinctive product and experience offered by women’s football gathers momentum, the collective strength and diversity of the platform provided by WSL Football’s member clubs is being harnessed in ever more innovative ways, as WSL Football partners with top tier brands such as Barclays, Apple, Mercedes-Benz UK, Nike and British Gas.

The state of play

In tech sector terminology, the women’s game has come through the early pains of a start up, and is now at the point of scale up. WSL Football’s stated objective is to build the most distinctive, competitive, and entertaining women’s football league in the world.

Financial and strategic investors are seriously intrigued, and many are laying the groundwork to participate in this extraordinary journey, prompting some established ownership groups to re-evaluate their own relationship with and ambitions for their women’s teams. Should they themselves invest further, seek partnerships with new investors, or perhaps sell?

A bright future  

From the not-so-distant dark days when women were banned from playing the game in England, to the successful launch of WSL Football and the global success of the Women’s World Cup, women’s football has not just become an investable sports asset, but a cultural and societal phenomenon.

With a proud track record of working with clubs, owners and investors in both the women’s and the men’s games, we greatly look forward to participating in and helping to shape the next developments in investment and M&A in this dynamic and innovative sector.