How can a country that is hosting the World Cup have no sponsor for its top flight?

After a nine-year hiatus, fans of Brazilian women’s football will once again be able to support their clubs in the Copa do Brasil. The cup will bring together 65 clubs from the three divisions of the national women’s football league, starting with a preliminary round on 21 May and concluding with the final in November. It is a return that has long been requested by the women’s football community in Brazil in order to expand the calendar for lower-division clubs and gives high-profile teams such as Flamengo, Corinthians and Santos another opportunity to compete for silverware.

However, all is not rosy on the Brazilian club scene only two years before Brazil are to host the Women’s World Cup for the first time. There have been a few years of growing sponsorship and visibility in the top tier, the Brasileirão A1, but this season has exposed the challenges facing the game.

Now approaching its 10th round of matches, not all Brasileirão games are broadcast by the TV rights holder, Globo. For some games the home team are allowed to stream them online but, despite this, several games have not been broadcast. The absence of sponsorship boards around the pitch and during player interviews highlight further difficulties. Last season the league had three main sponsors: Betano, Neoenergia and Binance. However, those contracts were not renewed and instead there are now messages against racism and gender-based violence.

In early April the sports news website GE reported that the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) was hopeful of securing new, improved sponsorship deals before the end of the first stage. Yet with only five rounds remaining before the knockout phase there have been no official updates. The CBF president, Ednaldo Rodrigues, has said that the offers it has received so far had been too low and accepting them would devalue the competition.

“We do not disregard those who were our sponsors in the past but football needs more and more investment – especially the women’s game,” he said at a press conference. “Sometimes people see women’s football as a burden but the CBF sees it as the football of the future, a football that requires investment. So if there are brands that value women, we will partner with them.

“But that does not mean, necessarily, that a contract that has expired will be automatically renewed. We will always pursue what is best for the organisation and that must mean increased value. Our previous deals started smaller and eventually became outdated.”

The former Brazil midfielder Formiga recently voiced her surprise and anger that the top flight still does not have a main sponsor. Talking at the launch of the Women’s Cup, a tournament to be hosted in Brazil in July featuring São Paulo, Palmeiras, Racing Louisville (of the United States), and Pachuca (Mexico), she said: “How can we host the World Cup and still not have a sponsorship in our main national league? It’s hard to accept. Those responsible for signing these deals need to realise that even small investments can make a huge difference in women’s football. We can’t live off scraps but whatever support we get can change the lives of many girls. We must take responsibility for the future of the game.”

Sponsorship in women’s football is vital not only for financial reasons but also for demonstrating the value of the competition and increasing its reach – which can attract further investment. In Brazil, a successful example is the Paulistão Feminino, the São Paulo state championship. While the national league currently has no sponsors, the Paulistão this week announced a record number of sponsors: seven in total, two more than last year, with the federation investing more than R$8m (£1.05m).

The return of the Copa do Brasil is a positive step towards strengthening women’s football in Brazil, but it must be executed in the right way. Clubs, particularly those in the lower divisions, need more matches on the calendar – but they also require support and visibility for real progress to be achieved.

Liga MX: América and Pachuca will face off for the 2025 Liga MX Femenil Clausura title. América, aiming for their third league title, defeated Chivas Guadalajara 4–2 on aggregate in the semi-final. Pachuca, meanwhile, are chasing their first Liga MX Femenil championship after overcoming Monterrey by the same score. The final is a rematch of the 2023 edition when América won their second title by beating Pachuca. The two legs of the final will be played on 9 May at Estadio Hidalgo and 12 May at Ciudad de los Deportes, América’s home ground.

World Sevens: Manchester City have completed the lineup of teams taking part in the inaugural Women’s World Sevens tournament with the interim head coach, Nick Cushing, leading a side from the first team playing squad. City will play Manchester United as they compete for the $5m (£3.76m) prize pool against FC Rosengard, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Benfica, Bayern Munich and Ajax. Teams might play up to five 30-minute fixtures depending on how far they progress. The competition, which runs between 21 and 23 May in Estoril, Portugal, will start with a two-day group phase before a knockout stage and a final.

Stadiums revealed: Fifa has announced which cities and stadiums will host games for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil; all eight were used for the men’s World Cup in 2014.

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