WSL Football bosses hire Goldman to kick off financing review

Football chiefs are to bring in Wall Street's best-known investment bank to explore options for financing the growth of women's football in England.

Sky News has learnt that the board of the WSL are close to hiring Goldman Sachs to evaluate opportunities for raising new funding. The project is at a very early stage, with further details on the potential outcome unclear this weekend.

The possibility of selling a stake in the WSL and the rebranded Championship - now known as WSL2 - has been explored in the past, and could be reviewed again as executives seek to capitalise on the sport's profile. The England women's team made history during the summer by retaining their European Championships title after a penalty shootout in the final against Spain.

In the last few months, both Chelsea and West Ham United have sold stakes in their women's teams to external investors, with the former striking a deal with the husband of former tennis superstar Serena Williams. Read more:Baroness Mone: I have no wish to rejoin Lords as Conservative peerReeves seeks outsider to run Britain's banking watchdog Deloitte, the accountancy firm which has been involved in a string of prominent recent sports deals, including the sale of stakes in the eight Hundred cricket franchises, is also said to be being lined up to work with the WSL Football board.

A WSL Football spokesman told Sky News: "Like any responsible business with ambition, WSL Football is working in collaboration with member clubs to explore long-term growth strategies that can accelerate the positive momentum within the women's game." The spokesman declined to comment on the involvement of Goldman Sachs or Deloitte. News of the review comes with the WSL and WSL2 seasons well under way.

On Friday night, Chelsea surrendered their 100% record at the top of the WSL when Manchester United came from behind to draw with the Londoners. In the WSL2, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic lead the race for promotion to the top tier.

The WSL Football board, which is chaired by media veteran Dawn Airey and run by chief executive Nikki Doucet, has secured a string of lucrative commercial and broadcast partnerships in the last 12 months. These have included deals with British Gas and Nike, as well as a three-year title sponsorship extension with Barclays.

On the broadcast front, it struck a record £65m domestic TV rights agreement with Sky Sports - which shares a parent company with Sky News - and the BBC. According to Deloitte's annual review of football finance, the 12 WSL clubs generated aggregate revenue of £65m in 2023-24, a 34% increase on the prior season's figure of £48m.

This rise was, according to the report, driven by revenue growth at Arsenal and Chelsea, although every top-flight club recorded double-digit increases in total revenue. In attendance terms, WSL's average and cumulative crowds in 2024-25 were slightly down, but this was offset by increases in attendances at second-tier matches, meaning that across the two divisions, last season was flat with an overall cumulative attendance of just over 1.1 million.

The impending appointment of Goldman comes four-and-a-half years after rival investment bank Rothschild was hired to undertake a similar review, with the sale of a stake to private equity investors under consideration for months before being abandoned. Goldman Sachs declined to comment..