Abstract
This study evaluates the relationship between the on-field performance of women’s national football teams at major tournaments and the share price performance of their sponsors. Through analysing match results and the share price responses, the study seeks to determine how winning, losing or drawing a match can affect investor attitudes and thus, indirectly, the financial performance of the sponsors. Football, the most watched sport globally, is primarily male-dominated with the biggest tournament, the FIFA World Cup, held every 4 years. The men’s World Cup was held for the first time in 1930, while the women’s tournament made its debut in 1991. Sponsorship serves an important role as a revenue-generating means for tournaments, federations and teams. It is a form of advertising by sponsors, intending to secure a return on their investment by appealing to the fan bases of the specific beneficiary. An event study was employed to evaluate whether the on-field performance of women’s national teams at major tournaments influences the share price performance of their sponsors. A sample comprising 5 women’s national teams was selected, and an analysis was undertaken on three matches per team at various continental competitions and the 2023 Women’s FIFA World Cup. A total of 15 events studies, with 15 different estimations and event windows were investigated. Consistency was applied in ensuring that the lengths of the estimation period (221 days) and the event windows (-21;21) were the same for all events. The abnormal returns (AR) and cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) were calculated, and the CARs were tested for significance. The main finding of the study indicated that there is a lack of correlation between the on-field performance of the women’s national football teams and the share price performance of their sponsors. Investor sentiment is not influenced by sponsorship relationships that the organisations they invest in undertake. The expectations according to existing literature were that the market reacted more significantly to a team’s loss than it did to a team winning the same match. This study did not find evidence to support existing literature from the context of women’s football based on the sample selected.
Key words
Football, Women’s football, Sponsorship, Event study, Major tournament, FIFA Women’s World Cup, Gender equity