FA searching for new Women's FA Cup title sponsor as Adobe deal comes to an end
Adobe's deal will expire on 31 July after three seasons.
The Football Association is searching for a new title sponsor for the Women’s FA Cup after Adobe opted not to renew its agreement beyond the 2025-26 season.
Software company Adobe signed a three-season deal for title sponsorship rights to the Women’s FA Cup in November 2023, but that contract expires on 31 July and will not be extended.
An FA spokesperson told The Cutback: “Our title partnership for the Adobe Women's FA Cup comes to an end on 31 July. As the competition enters its next phase of growth, we will announce a new title partner in due course.”
The FA faces a tight turnaround to ensure the competition has a title sponsor by the time its preliminary round begins on 23 August. However, the governing body could also choose to go without a title sponsor for the early stages of 2025-26 competition in order to find the right deal.
The Adobe agreement was struck prior to the second round of the 2023-24 Women’s FA Cup by sports marketing agency Sportfive, which was appointed by the FA to find a suitable sponsor.
Prior to Adobe coming on board, health insurance company Vitality held title sponsorship rights to the competition, also in a three-season deal. At the time, the £1-million deal was praised as being the biggest in the competition’s history.
Energy firm SSE was the Women’s FA Cup’s long-standing title partner from 2015 until 2019.
Women’s football has experienced something of a sponsorship boom in recent years with the Women’s Super League signing a slate of premium partners, including a recent agreement with AirBnb, the global travel platform.
Airbnb has joined as official accommodation and unique experiences partner and is part of a slate of WSL Football sponsors that includes Apple and Mercedes-Benz.
The Cutback recently launched an insight report examining the commercial challenges and opportunities in women’s football.
Cutting through the noise across the sector, From visibility to viability: A blueprint for the next phase of women’s football features exclusive rights fees and data for sponsorship and media rights deals, as well as curated datasets on attendances from across the women’s club game.
Alongside third-party data, The Cutback surveyed and interviewed around 50 executives and experts in women’s football from broadcast, leagues, clubs, agencies, sponsorship, governance and media.
Download a free copy at the link below.
