Global bank Barclays has confirmed the extension of its various sponsorship agreements across UK soccer - including its title sponsorship of the top-tier Women’s Super League (WSL) and its agreement with the men’s Premier League (EPL).
The multi-year WSL title sponsorship extension, unveiled today, is what the recently-formed Women’s Professional Leagues (WPLL) body has called “the biggest deal in women’s domestic football history,” and entails Barclays doubling its financial investment in the league.
Indeed, the BBC news site has reported the deal is for £15 million ($19.9 million) per season, and that it runs for three campaigns - 2025-26, 2026-27, and 2027-28.
This is the first commercial agreement unveiled since WPLL was officially unveiled as the governing body for top-tier women’s soccer in England, in mid-August.
Barclays has been the title sponsor of the WSL since the beginning of 2019-20, and the agreement was then renewed for a second three-year term ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. That deal stretches to the end of 2024-25.
Initial reports that Barclays would be renewing its deal - for £9 million per season over three years - covering the WSL emerged in April.
The first renewal, announced in December 2021, saw Barclays extend its title sponsorship to the Championship for a fee said to be around £4 million per season, which itself was double the initial £2 million per season fee agreed for the first three years of a tie-up covering just the WSL, a testament to the growth in profile of women's soccer in the UK.
Nikki Doucet, chief executive of WPLL, has now said: “Barclays has been a leading light when it comes to supporting women’s football and they become a founding partner for WPLL as we embark on a transformational journey to grow the game.
“This record multi-year investment demonstrates long-term commitment and is important because it provides positive endorsement and increased support for what we are trying to accomplish.”
Tom Corbett, Barclays’ group head of sponsorship, added: “This latest agreement solidifies our long-term commitment to supporting the game at every level and creating opportunities for everyone to benefit from it.”
The WPLL has now taken responsibility for the 12-team WSL and the second-tier Women’s Championship, from the Football Association.
Each club active in the two leagues will become a shareholder in WPLL, which was created under the guise of NewCo last November and is now fully operationally independent of the FA (although that body does retain a special share in the organization, giving it rights to a portion of eventual revenue).
Beyond Barclays’ top-line sponsorship of the WSL, the competition’s other major commercial partners include global sportswear giant NIKE, which has been the official ball supplier of the WSL and the Championship since 2022.
The Barclays-EPL extension, meanwhile, comes with the bank having served as the league’s title sponsor between 2004 and 2016.
Since then, it has acted as the league's official bank.
Initial reports that an extension between the two parties was in the offing came in mid-June when Sky News reported that a four-year renewal worth £75 million was on the cards.
GlobalData estimated the value of the last deal between the two parties, unveiled in late 2021, as $15 million annually.
Other major EPL commercial partners include Nike, Hublot, EA Sports, Oracle, Guinness, and Panini.
