Mercury13 Seeks to ‘Level the Playing Field’ With All-Female, Multi-Club $100M Holding
*LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / September 6, 2023 /* Following the recent announcement of its negotiations to invest in the women's football team Lewes FC in England, Mercury13, a multi-club ownership group with the goal of acquiring controlling stakes in professional women's football teams in Europe and Latin America, has reaffirmed its commitment to "leveling the playing field" for women's football with a $100 million holding.
Led by Victoire Cogevina Reynal, founder of Mercury13, founder of soccer-centric social network Gloria, former VP of Women's Football at OneFootball and a fierce advocate for gender equality in football, the organization is seeking to establish itself as the premier multi-club ownership entity exclusively focused on women's football.
"The Women's World Cup final between Spain and England had record television viewership, and the tournament as a whole also broke attendance records," said Victoire. "This proves more than ever that there is a strong appetite for women's football and women's sports in general. Despite this, the investments and budgets typically proportioned to women's teams do not equitably represent the value they deliver. The issues surrounding women's teams can easily be seen with the situation in Spain, which is heartbreaking. When the women should be celebrated for their impressive feat, a man has become the center of attention for giving an unwanted kiss on the world's biggest stage. To that end, women's football can be more than just a sport - it can be the most powerful gender equality movement in our generation."
Continued Victoire, "By having a women-led group making investments in women's football teams, we can give today's players the support they deserve. Our aim is to become the industry standard for investments in women's football. We believe that our backgrounds give us the right mindset and approach for identifying and investing in the women's clubs that will become commercial giants in the sport."
In addition to Victoire, who is the first woman to sell a football app, other board members for Mercury13 include Eni Aluko (former England forward and Angel City sporting director), Arianna Criscione (former Italy goalkeeper), Luis Vicente (former Chief Innovation Officer of FIFA) and Nancy Hensley (former chief of product and marketing at Stats Perform).
The organization has also built out a strong advisory board comprised of Michael Broughton, co-founder of Sports Innovation Partners; Ebru Koksal, former CEO of Turkish club Galatasrary and the first woman elected to the European Club Association Executive Board and Brigit Lee, a tech executive with experience at Sony PlayStation, Amazon and Best Buy.
With leadership comprised of football and business experts from around the globe, Mercury13 is well positioned to identify investments that will help strengthen women's football on a global scale. The group's investments focus on the fundamental principle that women's football shouldn't be constantly compared to men's teams. By understanding what fans want from their experience and investing in teams with high potential for marketing and promotion, Mercury13 seeks to optimize the growth of the women's game.
The group's initial investment in Lewes FC, which competes in England's FA Women's Championship, made global headlines as it signified the beginning of a multi-club ownership model that is already common in men's football in Europe and Latin America. Following the Lewes FC deal, Mercury13 is currently in negotiations to invest in women's football teams in Spain, Italy, Argentina and Uruguay.
As Victoire says, "The worldwide response to our initial investment in Lewes FC shows just how much global reach women's football has. We believe this is a scalable, sustainable model - what's started here can have incredible repercussions for women's football on a global scale. We are committed to this global vision and continuing to invest in the most popular women's sport in the world so that more teams, players, and fans can get the resources they deserve. I want our investments to help take women's football to the next level to attract and better serve female players and fans."
The investment Mercury13 is looking to make into Lewes FC Women aligns with its vision of playing its part in supporting the next decade's super clubs and fueling their commercial power. Lewes FC is the world's first football club to equally split its playing budgets and resources between the men's and women's teams. Since this change, both the men's and women's operations have enjoyed significant growth in attendance, revenue and sponsorship - and now the club can look forward to the possibility of an exciting new chapter with Mercury13.
Making this initial investment even more impressive, Victoire has navigated Mercury13's initial acquisition with a two month old baby girl. Proof in action that Mercury13 is a personal commitment for its founders, a way for them to create a brighter and more equitable future for women's football.
*About Mercury13*
Mercury13 is a multi-club ownership group aiming to acquire controlling stakes in professional women's football teams in Europe and Latin America. As one of the first multi-club ownership entities exclusively focused on women's football, the organization plans to invest $100 million over the next few years to accomplish this goal. The ownership group is named after 13 women who passed NASA's astronaut test in 1960, but were not allowed to work a spaceflight because of their gender.
*Media Details*
Website URL: https://Mercury13.com
Company Name: Mercury13
Email address: press@Mercury13.com
*SOURCE:* Mercury13
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