(Reuters) – Barclays has signed a new three-year deal to sponsor the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Championship as part of a record investment for women’s sport in Britain, England’s Football Association (FA) said on Wednesday.
Banking group Barclays will invest more than 30 million pounds ($39.84 million) in women’s and girls’ football from 2022 to 2025, doubling the existing investment when it became the title sponsor of the WSL in 2019.
Barclays will also become the first title sponsor of the second-tier Championship from the 2022-23 season for three years and increase investment into grassroots development as part of the deal.
“Barclays have played a crucial role in the growth of women’s and girls’ football, so it is excellent news that they are committing to a new record investment in the women’s and girls’ pyramid until 2025,” said Kelly Simmons, FA director of the women’s professional game.
“The FA Women’s Championship plays a pivotal role in the ongoing development of the pyramid structure and the credible history and association to football that Barclays has will make the league even stronger.”
This year, the BBC and Sky Sports agreed a three-year, multimillion-pound deal to broadcast WSL games from the 2021-22 season.
The WSL began as an eight-team, semi-professional league in 2011 and is now an all-professional 12-team division, while the Championship, called WSL 2 prior to the 2018-19 season, previously had 10 teams but is now a 12-team league.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru)
