Women's football
In August 2016, Iberdrola became the main promoter of women's football in Spain by naming the league Primera Iberdrola. Since then, the competition began to receive more and more visibility thanks to free-to-air television coverage and the celebration of several of the matches in first division stadiums.
Women's football has become a sport that doesn't stop growing and has culminated with the victory of the Spanish team in the world championship in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, the national team fulfils its dream of becoming world champions in 2023.
The electricity company is now the main sponsor of the National Women's Football Team, the Under-19 and Under-17 national teams, as well as the Copa de La Reina-Iberdrola and Supercopa-Iberdrola, among others. It also has players such as Alexia Putellas, the first Spanish winner of the Ballon d'Or award and The Best in the same season, as ambassadors.
In addition, Neoenergia, our Brazilian subsidiary, has signed an agreement with the Brazilian Football Confederation to sponsor the canarinha women’s national football team during this World Cup and the next Olympic Games in Paris. We also do so in the team competition, which has been called “Brasileirão Femenino Neoenergia” for several editions.
In Scotland, it is ScottishPower that will support the development of women’s football and will do so exclusively for three years from 2023. The Scottish subsidiary will be the main sponsor principal of the Scottish league as well as all the youth cups that exist in the northern European country. The aim is to raise the standard of football in Scotland, with the aim of giving younger players a chance to develop.
From 2024, Iberdrola will also sponsor the Portuguese federation. The company will support the "Navegantes" – the Portuguese women's national team – until 2027. The company is also the main sponsor of the four major competitions in Portugal: BPI League, Portuguese Cup, Super Cup and League Cup.
Promoting equality through sport
Iberdrola has been promoting women and girls in the field of sport since 2016.
The growth of women's football in Europe
En EIn Europe, the number of professional female players exceeds 3,500.
Unstoppable rise of women's football
Competitions are more professionalised, more and more spectators are coming to the stadiums and television audiences are skyrocketing. The work carried out over the last few years, thanks to the support of Iberdrola, has had an impact on the women's categories of the Spanish national team. Spain is the current world champion in the U-20 and U-17categories, as well as European champion in the U19 category.
Brazil is the current Copa America champion and will also take part in the Olympic Games, where they will meet Spain in the group stage. Portugal and Scotland continue their progress and both countries are in contention to qualify for next year's European Championships in Switzerland.
All this visibility and talent become motivation for girls and women, and it is already paying off: from 2016 to 2021 there was an increase of up to 51% in women's federated licences.
