Women's Football x Sustainability
Women's football is developing in exciting ways around the world. The top of the game is experiencing rising numbers of fan participation, sponsorship investment and franchise growth.
Those of us working at the grassroots and lower levels of the game are excited about this and look forward to how it might propel the entire ecosystem forward. It brings about several challenges though as our programs albeit connected in some ways are rarely receiving the same attention, investment or sponsorship.
We decided to create an event around some of these challenges! This is who we are and how it went!
Paul Dreisbach, Jordan Cone and our team at Petrichor Football Association and have been working in Cameroon since 2017 investing in over 25 local academies and clubs impacting thousands of young players. Our decentralized model has a wide reach and is focused on building the professional side of grassroots clubs through education, sustainability training and social impact programs.
Goals for Girls led by Lola Ogunbote works with young girls around the world delivering curriculum focused on issues they face each day. They use the power of sport for connection, developing leaders and staying active. Their ongoing programs and annual summits bring hundreds of girls together to experience partnership, learn and be exposed to what is possible for them.
After partnering with Goals for Girls through our La Ligue D'Égalité project in Cameroon we knew that we would work together in the future. The first collaboration was our event on Women's Football and Sustainability at Arsenal F.C early April 2023.
We were delighted to bring together a small but powerful group to connect, discuss issues we face and encourage collaboration and partnership in women's football. Our event brought leaders from: The Football Association, Goals for Girls, Alive and Kicking, Burnley Football Club, Petrichor Football Association, Right to Dream, Africa Sports Unified and more!
We touched on 6 key areas:
1 - Growth
Grow with strategy
3 D's (Discover, Develop and Delegate) addressing leadership development
2 - Sponsorship: LaLiga, TikTok as examples
Alignment is key
Study the market and customize strategy
3 - Challenges
How to learn from difficult times
Elite mentality: focus on short wins within the marathon
4 - Innovation
TikTok sponsorship and streaming Burnley FC Women's Games
Cross sector partnerships
5 - Sustainability
Diverse revenue streams
Experiment and take risks to grow
6 - Collaboration
Real Salt Lake / Goals for Girls
Petrichor / Goals for Girls partnership to further girls football in Cameroon
We had a great time in smaller groups discussing and brainstorming how we approach these concepts within our organizations, clubs and associations. At Petrichor we have been fortunate to have great mentors and leaders who have helped us on our journey. To see connections established and experiences shared at our event was a great way to give back to this space.
Leaders from grassroots clubs to the FA, pro clubs and those in between were able to come together as we all must move forward together if we want to see true impact through sport.
We were encouraged to see contacts shared, friends made and plans established. This was meant to be a space to bring people together - mission accomplished.
If you were able to make it: THANK YOU! We hope you benefitted and are able to share you experiences with others, comment or share about this event. We are excited about the opportunity to bring events like this to key cities around the world and be part of a greater movement uniting leaders in women's football, those just getting started and the rest in between.