London City Lionesses just rewrote the sponsorship playbook. Their new partnership with TOGETHXR - the women-athlete-owned media and commerce company co-founded by Alex Morgan, Sue Bird, Simone Manuel and Chloe Kim - is the first time a women-athlete-led brand has front-of-kit placement on a professional women’s sports team.
The 2025/26 Nike kit launches with TOGETHXR’s “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports™” mark when the Lionesses face Arsenal in the Barclays WSL opener. Beyond the surface, this move fuses two disruptors: a club founded to challenge football’s status quo, and a media brand built to shift the narrative around women in sport.
📊 Supporting Stats
Sponsorship imbalance: In 2023, women’s sport attracted just 13% of total sports sponsorship spend globally (Nielsen).
Fan interest is booming: Attendance for the Barclays WSL hit a record 1.3 million in 2024/25, up 20% year-on-year (FA).
Media visibility gap: Women’s sports receive only 15% of sports media coverage worldwide (UNESCO, 2024).
This deal sits at the intersection of those numbers: a kit sponsorship that is both media brand and cultural signal.
🧠 Decision: Did It Work?
Yes. Strategically, this partnership is bigger than a sponsorship logo - it’s a platform play.
For TOGETHXR, it’s an earned media goldmine. Every broadcast, photo, and fan replica kit carries their mission statement into mainstream football culture.
For London City Lionesses, it signals independence and alignment with values-led storytelling, a differentiator in a crowded league.
For fans, it’s proof that women’s sport is now strong enough to sustain its own ecosystem of athlete-driven brands, without waiting for validation from legacy sponsors.
The risk? Commercial upside may take time. Unlike a bank or airline sponsor, TOGETHXR isn’t paying to sell products directly to Lionesses fans. But culturally, this partnership is far more valuable: it cements the team as part of a wider movement.
📌 Key Takeouts
What happened: London City Lionesses and TOGETHXR announced the first-ever women-athlete-owned brand front-of-kit sponsorship in professional women’s sport.
What worked: Shared disruptive DNA; visibility for TOGETHXR’s rallying cry; authentic alignment between brand and club.
Potential weakness: Revenue return may not match traditional sponsors in the short term.
Signals: Athlete-owned brands are stepping into roles once dominated by corporate giants; women’s football is becoming the stage for cultural-first partnerships.
For marketers: Front-of-kit isn’t just advertising space anymore - it’s identity, narrative, and a chance to stand for something.
🔮 What We Can Expect Next
This could open the door to a new model of sports sponsorship where values-driven, athlete-founded brands occupy premium spaces traditionally reserved for legacy corporations. Expect more women-led collectives, athlete-backed ventures, and culture-first businesses to step in where traditional brands hesitate.
For women’s sport, the message is clear: it’s no longer just about visibility - it’s about ownership, authorship, and rewriting who gets to sit at the front of the shirt.