Women's FA Cup gets major boost with tech giant Adobe set to sponsor tournament
The Women's FA Cup is set to be sponsored by computer software giant Adobe from this season.
The deal with the FA sees the tournament officially renamed as the Adobe Women's FA Cup and will run until the summer of 2026.
Previous sponsors Vitality saw their three-year deal end last July, seeing the competition without a title sponsor since. But the California-based tech organisation is now set to fill that gap.
The move increases Adobe's growing involvement in the women's game, with the company also becoming the "official creativity partner" of the American women's domestic league, the NWSL, earlier this year. Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s Director of Women’s Football said: "The Women’s FA Cup has grown to new heights over the last few years in parallel with the wider growth of the women’s game, and we’re delighted to have Adobe on board as we target the next phase of development for the competition.
"We share their passion for holistically celebrating the unique characteristics that makes the Women’s FA Cup the most special and prestigious domestic cup competition in the world."
Earps reacts to FIFA Best nomination and on season so far with Man Utd
This comes after the FA confirmed that this season's competition prize pot will double after a nearly £3million uplift brought the total to £6million. However, this only benefits clubs from the third round onwards. The second round proper takes place this weekend, involving clubs from below the Championship.
A greater prize pot means the team that wins the cup this season will take home £430,000, up £100,000 from what Chelsea banked after defeating Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley last year. That final was played out in front of a competition-record crowd of 77,390.
The WSL clubs enter the tournament at the fourth round where clubs now receive £67,000 just for taking part. Despite the sharp increase in prize money for the women's tournament, clubs don't receive as much as their male counterparts do for playing in their equivalent competition.
For the current season, the men's FA Cup prize fund, confirmed in June, sees £2million on offer for winning the final and £1million for the losing finalists. Those teams would also benefit from payments for progressing through the earlier rounds.
But the work done by the FA to increase the women's overall pot does mean that the gap in prize money between the men's and women's competition, as a percentage, is now narrower than it ever was previously.
The FA Cup sponsorship deal comes at a time when the future of elite domestic women's football in England remains unclear. The governing body is currently trying to thrash out plans for NewCo, the name of the company that will run the WSL and the Women's Championship from 2024-25 onwards.
As initially revealed by The Telegraph on Monday, issues remain over voting powers clubs in each league will have. Clubs from the second tier have rejected a proposal that the WSL clubs would have greater voting powers on decisions involving commercial deals. A new broadcast deal is also set to be announced with the current contract with Sky Sports and BBC Sport expiring at the end of the season, although this is unlikely to be announced before the New Year.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
