Helping female footballers thrive off the pitch
Sport acts as a powerful platform for promoting gender equality and can empower women and girls, but it is also well known that a strong correlation exists between success in sport and business. Recent statistics reveal that nearly three-quarters of executive women say experience in sports can help accelerate a career and 94% of women in a C-suite position having played sport at some time in their lives. However, gender gaps still exist and there is still work to be done to create an equal platform be it in football or the board room.
Creating Opportunities Beyond Football:
Footballers are increasingly looking to create opportunities alongside football; to provide a platform for their future once their football career has come to an end. Inspired by our successful partnership with UEFA Women’s Football and the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, we are committed to supporting and enabling female footballers to succeed in the workplace – whether that be during their football career or when they’ve retired and hung up their boots.
Introducing The Second Half:
Visa is proud to have launched The Second Half; a career development programme to support female professional footballers in Europe as they consider their careers beyond the football pitch.
To develop the programme, Visa has collaborated with Karen Carney OBE (former England international) and former Team Visa footballer Kim Little MBE (current club Captain, and former Scotland international) to make sure that The Second Half meets the needs of the footballers, providing actionable support.
Insights from Karen Carney:
As a role model on and off the pitch, Karen’s insight and experience has allowed us to tailor the programme, ensuring that we provide the right assistance for players taking part in the programme. She has seen first-hand the huge growth of the female game driven by the professionalism and is passionate about supporting the next generation of players. But she also knows that it is imperative to ensure that there are pathways in place to allow players to transition smoothly and efficiently to their second career.
Visa’s Strategy and Commitment:
As discussed in our Whitepaper - The Compound Effect in Women’s Football – a core part of Visa’s strategy has been tapping into the power of players to really connect with the beating heart of the sport and what fans truly resonate most with. We also know that investing in them is key to the future health of the game.
Through The Second Half, Visa helps female footballers recognise that their skills they have developed in their professional career - perseverance, teamwork, and commitment - are transferable, showing how they will be able to apply them outside of sport through internal and external training in areas such as:
Financial literacy
Social media management
CV writing
Communication skills
Leadership development
We also help players build their personal brand, as well as provide opportunities for them to receive mentoring from a senior stakeholder at Visa or one of our partners and other work experience, giving players real business experience to help them in the future.
As a result, we believe more businesses will benefit from the valuable contributions, diverse thinking and unique skill sets of female footballers and other elite athletes.
Charlotte Hogg, CEO, Visa Europe
“Women’s football is not at its final destination; there’s so much growth and evolution required to reach its full potential. We see opportunity in the impact we can have in the growth of women’s football and our investment is a small step which, combined with many other small yet powerful steps across the industry, is driving widescale change. This in turn nurtures a deep relationship between our business, female footballers and fans of women’s football, who have directly experienced the impact of our investment, and see us as an ally on that journey.”
Expansion across Europe:
The Second Half successfully launched in January 2021 in the UK and is open to current and retired professional women footballers. The programme has also rolled out across Europe including Portugal and Spain, in order to support as many female players as possible. This is another exciting step for Visa in our long-term commitment to support women and women’s football.