The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ presented a golden opportunity to elevate the status of women's football globally.

Facing a world still grappling with gender disparity in sport, the objective was to leverage the event to both promote the game and FIFA’s partners, but to drive change through awareness, allyship and assistance.

This was set against a backdrop of two host countries with challenging timezones for traditional football fans, a smaller market pool, and a desire to ensure women’s football was seeing the revenues it deserved – a fact often neglected across the sport industry.

All while brands expressed a desire to have dedicated with women’s football - not simply as a bolt-on.

With these in mind, FIFA set out to prove that a Women’s Football-only commercial programme was not only possible, but could be sold out and flourish – driving funding for the game, enhancing fan engagement,

The creativity of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ commercial programme was two-fold.

Firstly, in the ambition to unbundle commercial rights and create a first-of-its-kind, dedicated Women’s Football partnership programme – a unique and pioneering prospect for the market.

Secondly, through the extensive and creative execution of the 30 partners and the ideas they – together with FIFA – brought to life across digital, brand and in-person throughout the tournament.

Among them were the social development-led such as Visa’s ‘Support Squads’ campaign that used the FIFA Women’s World Cup Player of the Match Award to recognise women-owned small business, to the ‘Believing is Dreaming’ digital activation from Coca-Cola that used talent to inspire the next generation.

Each of the 30 brought their unique creativity to the tournament, all while aligning under one narrative message – to develop women’s football.

The foundations for the commercial programme were built on a deep understanding of women’s football current context, and the crucial role FIFA has in developing the global game.

The strategy drew on insights from across to understand the untapped commercial potential of the women’s game. 16.6 million women were playing football in 2023 (up 24% on 2019) but FIFA studies found that only 34% of Member Associations with top-tier women’s leagues had a dedicated sponsor.

Historically, revenues for women’s football sponsorship weren’t matching the ambition on the pitch, and FIFA set out to on a strategy for a dedicated partnership programme - unbundled from the men’s FIFA World Cup allowing brands to associate only with women’s football.

Critically, the programme was designed to ensure that all partners shared in this strategic goal of matching brand awareness with off-pitch commitment and investment – reshaping women’s football sponsorship moving forward.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ was a commercial success before it began, with a sold-out programme of 30 sponsors – a 150% increase on 2019.

Sponsorship revenues exceeded any previous, changing women’s sponsorship standards forever, while awareness for the brands was at an all-time high:

- Over 3.2bn views on FIFA’s social and digital channels

- 777,000 visited the FIFA Fan Festival™ across 9 sites

- 1.9 million fans at matches across Australia & New Zealand

…and with these record numbers, results spread. Unilever saw 40,000 daily users on its Roblox activation alongside 400 campaigns in 71 countries. VISA handed out $500,000 in grants to female-owned small businesses throughout, while Xero hit its highest brand scores ever in all active territories.

Most importantly, the month-long tournament generated $570 million, a landmark figure reinvested by FIFA in the long-term growth of women’s football – creating a self-sustaining cycle of development.