As the hotly anticipated 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup gets ready to kick off July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, brands continue to raise their profiles and build their female athlete roster by joining forces with women’s soccer stars.

Take USWNT veteran Alex Morgan–the US squad’s all-time leading scorer, two-time World Cup champion, and Olympic gold medalist. She leads the list of FIFA Women’s World Cup athletes as most endorsed players with 17 partnerships, including deals with Michelob Ultra and Molecule Sleep.

Notably, Morgan was featured in Michelob Ultra’s Super Bowl LVII campaign ahead of the big game this past February. We can expect (and will be tracking) crossover athletes and their brand sponsors to launch campaigns and promote new products—alongside social and onsite activations—before and during the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Spanish team captain, Alexia Putellas, trails Morgan with 12 sponsorships, Amazon Prime Video and Hublot among them. Canadian phenom Kaila Novak–who’s played for her national team since age 15–and Crystal Dunn tie for third place with 10 deals each.

As one of the world’s most-watched sporting events with more than 1B viewers, the FIFA Women’s World Cup offers brands a virtually unrivaled opportunity to reach fans across the globe. Three blue-chip brands–Nike, Visa and adidas–comprise the top triumvirate of sponsors going all-in on women’s soccer. The world’s most valuable sportswear brand has been a longtime supporter, boasting 29 partnerships with some of the game’s biggest names, including Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Sam Kerr.

Meanwhile, Visa has vastly expanded its sponsorship stable to 24 deals–with Lucy Bronze and Kosovare Asliani, among others–from just 10 last year, while longtime sponsor adidas partners with 20 female players, along with the German and Spanish squads.

Emerging brands in nascent industries, like MATCHDAY, are also staking a claim in the sport as its popularity and profile soar. The blockchain-based gaming platform now has five partnerships with women soccer players, having inked four in the past 12 months, including back-to-back Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas. Just before the 2022 World Cup, all MATCHDAY-sponsored players posted a “MATCHDAY Challenge” picture on Instagram, inviting their followers to predict the tournament results, engaging 136K of them in the process. Look for a similar social campaign launch from MATCHDAY featuring even more female soccer standouts as the tourney begins next month.

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