In a significant development for women's soccer, UEFA has appointed Two Circles as the exclusive media sales agency for the Women’s Champions League matches. The agreement, which spans the 2025/30 commercial cycle, also sees Two Circles named as the exclusive sponsorship agency for UEFA women’s soccer.
This move marks a new era in women's soccer sponsorship. In 2017, UEFA made a strategic decision to sell commercial rights to its women’s properties separately from men’s games. Since its initial appointment in 2018, Two Circles has been at the forefront of this initiative and has successfully sold sponsorship rights.
The partnership between UEFA and Two Circles extends beyond just the Women’s Champions League. It includes marketing rights for several other competitions such as UEFA Women’s Euro 2029, UEFA Women’s Futsal Championship, and UEFA Women’s Under-19 and Under-17 Championships.
Continued growth forecasted
Since unbundling sponsorship rights for women's competitions in 2017, there has been significant growth in this sector. Currently, Adidas, Amazon and Electronic Arts (EA) are among UEFA's eleven partners supporting women's soccer.
UEFA is forecasting continued growth into the next commercial cycle (2025/30). This prediction is backed by impressive viewership numbers from recent tournaments. For instance, more than 374 million people across 197 territories watched live broadcasts of Women’s Euro matches in 2022 - making it the most-watched edition of that tournament ever.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA marketing director, said:
“In 2018, we set out to establish a steadfast fully dedicated women’s football commercial programme to accelerate the growth of European women’s football, This upcoming rights cycle is our next step on this exciting journey.
We will continue to break records on and off the pitch for both club and national team competitions, while driving commercial growth through an evolution of our partnership offering, and we are confident that Two Circles are the right partner for this stage of the journey.”
Moreover, during the current commercial cycle (2021/25), media rights were centrally distributed by UEFA for the first time ever resulting in record-breaking viewership figures; The final match of this year attracted an unprecedented 5.1 million live viewers, making it the most-watched final in the history of Women’s Champions League.
A new format for Women's Champions League
In a bid to make the competition more engaging and competitive, UEFA will introduce a new format for the Women’s Champions League from the 2025/26 season. The tournament will feature a league phase with 18 teams followed by a play-off round.
Nadine Kessler, UEFA managing director of women’s football, said:
“We have made huge strides and this new commercial cycle will cover the next great leap in women’s football’s development in Europe. European competitions, both for national teams and for clubs, are at the forefront of the global game and we are convinced that these competitions and our innovative development projects will attract purpose-led partnerships, that support the movement and thus will help us to set new benchmarks across the board.
“We are excited to have Two Circles on board to help us maximise the value and exposure of our game and to achieve our ambitious strategic growth targets.”
For the first time ever, centralised sponsorship rights will be in place from the first match of this league phase onwards. This move is expected to further enhance commercial opportunities and increase visibility for women's soccer. UEFA's partnership with Two Circles promises an exciting future for women's soccer - one that is set to bring increased visibility, greater commercial opportunities and continued growth in viewership numbers.
