Sport Village Cislago, Como: Mercury/13 continues to chart an unprecedented course for both men’s and women’s football ownership by striking sponsorship deal with purpose-led transformative social media platform WeAre8 for F.C. Como Women. Zoe Kalar, CEO of WeAre8: “Change can only come from women’s football”. On a cold January Saturday on the F.C. Como Women training grounds outside of the cinematic city of Como in Northern Italy, SoccerBible was invited to an exclusive event to witness a new chapter being written in the short, but incredible story of the independent Serie A femminile club. As part of a first-ever friendly match between F.C. Como Women and French Division 2 club Olympique de Marseille, the club launched a new kit and title sponsorship deal with transformative social media platform WeAre8. The match was uniquely broadcast globally on women’s football broadcasting platform DAZN and their YouTube channel, also introducing an innovative broadcast format geared towards the female viewer. View this post on Instagram A post shared by F.C. Como Women (@comowomen) F.C. Como Women’s new multi-year deal with WeAre8 marks the first time in the history of European women’s professional football that two companies led by women serve as kit partners –tech entrepreneur Zoe Kalar, founder of WeAre8, and Beatrice Casati, CEO of Casati Flock, Italian producer of high-quality flock powder. And it also serves as a reminder that women’s football continues to be a space for transforming the blueprint for football ownership, as we know it in men’s football, by securing value-based sponsors pushing for equality on and off the pitch. A type of sponsor rarely, if ever, seen in men’s football. Zoe Kalar, CEO of WeAre8, with Como Women players WeAre8 sponsor in place on the Como Womens Nike home shirt WeAre8 is “how social media should be, as if TikTok, Instagram and Twitter had a love baby with a conscience”, says founder Zoe Kalar minutes before the game starts. The next day, by the majestic double staircase in Parco Civico Teresio Olivelli, nonchalantly facing Lake Como, she and the players will go on to do a photo shoot wearing the new home and away jersey with “WeAre8 – The People’s Platform” written across the chest. View this post on Instagram A post shared by OM Féminines (@omfeminines) With the recent announcement from the king of algorithms that fact-checkers will be removed from all Meta platforms likely resulting in a spike in harmful content WeAre8 could hardly have stepped on the women’s football scene at a better time women footballers at the 2023 World Cup were 29 percent more likely to receive sexualised and homophobic messages than players at the 2022 Men's World Cup if in doubts whether Meta’s platforms were ever a particularly safe space for women: an early iteration of Facebook was created to rank Zuckerberg’s female classmates at Harvard pledging to invest $100 million into transforming women’s clubs and elevate their commercial value in Europe and Latin-America Como Women (not to be mistaken with Como 1907 Women) Next in their portfolio will be a club in Spain in the five big European top tier leagues (Italy an independent women's club is practically non-existent The only other club currently in Serie A femminile is Naples while all the teams currently in the English WSL are affiliated with a men's club that will already have a brand identity deeply rooted in age-old history and was originally built to cater to the needs of male players and fans while the popularity and commercial potential of women's football is booming globally – in Europe alone the commercial value of women’s football is expected to reach an annual value of €686 million by 2033 meaning a six-fold increase according to UEFA – financial backing of this magnitude mixed in with a multi-club ownership model is still unprecedented for any women's team anywhere in the world “F.C. Como Women was built for brands like WeAre8 and Casati. Female visionaries that saw the world in the same way we did,” says co-founder and co-CEO of Mercury/13 Victoire Cogevina Reynal of the partnership. Ever since the launch of the investment group, Mercury/13 has sought out value-based sponsors that share the mission of elevating the women’s game and, ultimately, the emancipation of women. Which made it hard to find the right match. “It’s still very hard to find sponsors for women’s football. It’s even harder to find value-based sponsors. There’s still such constriction. I spoke with over 100 brands (before WeAre8), and I would feel underestimated, but we made it our advantage. You blow people’s minds when they don’t expect anything from you.” Reynal took on punditry detail for the OM Friendly, bringing a welcome new approach to the role The apprehension luckily paves the way for, in a footballing context, ‘unlikely’ brands, who suddenly see women’s football as both a business opportunity and a chance to be part of something bigger: “Businesses that care about women or have made them their main consumer never saw sports as a platform in which they had any place. Now, they see it. While the audience is not as big as in men’s football, the earned media value these brands get from associating with something like this is huge. And they get to participate in a movement. I think a lot of brands can see, especially after the Paris Olympics, that this is the way the world is moving, but they are still figuring it out.” According to Reynal, brands shouldn’t be figuring it out for too long. “Women’s football waits for no one. We are at a moment in time where all these things are coming together at once, where women’s sports have unequivocally become a gender equality movement, and it will most likely be the most powerful movement we see in our generation. From an economic standpoint, that’s huge”. Did Kalar of WeAre8 ever consider sponsoring a men’s team? “Women just get it on another level, and there’s an excitement about trying the new, because the old world is not working for them. And the players (of F.C. Como Women) are not doing anything they haven’t always done. The only difference is that now they have a gigantic social amplification and economic engine behind them to support them.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by F.C. Como Women (@comowomen) the attention and financial backing is welcome: “Of course it adds more pressure on us we’re playing a friendly that’s shown on DAZN Especially in Italy where women’s football just recently became professional because we’re playing against teams like Roma and Juventus who already have their men’s teams that are known worldwide” says Filipino-American forward Sarina Bolden creating a club that caters to the needs of women players and fans is a build-as-we-go process on all levels Which might create some kinks along the way but also has certain advantages compared to more established clubs: “They are very open to feedback and interested in the players’ experience Because it’s a new investment group and new staff they really want to understand our wants and needs as athletes,” says American forward Alexandra Kerr who joined F.C Como Women in action against Olympique Marseille every aspect of building a club for women is looked at through “a female lens”: “We’ve seen through hundreds how men’s clubs have been built We want to rethink how we can create a market that appeals to the other half of the world Women have been part of an eco-system that was never built for them we’ve seen a huge copy-paste mentality within clubs ‘If fans behave in this way on the men’s side they are going to behave in the same way on the women’s side ‘If male players need this type of infrastructure Initiatives to cater to this female lens include a trainer specialising in the physiology of women a renovated training centre and the programme “Beyond” where players get advice on handling their finances during and after their footballing career And then there is the launch of the new broadcasting format at the match against Olympique de Marseille She moved freely around from pitch to booth during the match the focus of her commentating being on the players’ stories and interviews with guest pundits and more informal than what viewers are accustomed to from traditional commentary from big broadcasters and men’s games one happy viewer wrote on Instagram after the match “The idea was really born out of having a bunch of women around the table that said I always wish they told me more about the players’,” says Reynal This is kind of our chance to rip up what football should be and build it in favour of women on and off the pitch instead” in a van home from a dinner with the team and the staff after the match I ask Reynal if she thinks that big men's clubs with affiliated women's teams might someday take a cue from how Mercury/13s does football ownership – from entering into more conscious-based sponsorships to catering to their women players and fans Mario (co-CEO of Mercury/13) and I asked each other what success would look like ten years from now And I said: it would be if a president of a men’s club called me up and asked: how do I do this?” Follow F.C. Como Women on Instagram here In what is a huge move for women’s football, Nike has announced a groundbreaking multi-year sponsorship deal with FC Como Women marking the brand's first partnership with an independent women’s Serie A football club MAAREE is an independent sports bras business dedicated to crafting supportive products for all women After hearing news of Chelsea star Millie Bright’s investment to talk about how this will help pave the way forward for the women’s game Ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup kick off “What The Football,” championing female footballers from around the globe who are changing the game and inspiring the world through the power of sport Lewes FC and Lyle & Scott released a film fronted by former Lioness looking at the 100-year anniversary of The FA’s 50-year ban on women’s football and its long lasting impact The USWNT vs Germany and Brazil vs Spain are the semi-finals of a thrilling women’s football tournament marred by controversy Use these shocking and delightful choices to put the action into perspective Werder Bremen’s women’s team will take to the field at the wohninvest WESERSTADION to take on 1 marking only their second appearance in the stadium the club have produced the side’s first ever supporters scarf In what is surely set to be one of the last big additions to the FIFA franchise as we know it EA Sports has revealed an overview of features for its FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 update Set to once again spearhead England’s attacks in France this summer Ellen White has been round the game long enough to have a fine understanding its intricacies We recently caught up with the Manchester City Striker to talk all about the upcoming World Cup the rise of the women’s game and which box sets she'll be watching she’s clearly looking forward to the challenge ahead Sign up to our newsletter and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the world of Creative Soccer Culture.