It feels like there’s an unnecessary crux in women’s football as the Lionesses begin their title defence at the Euros. 

After the success of the last edition, the domestic game has gone gangbusters, with Arsenal selling out the Emirates for regular league games, an independent body being set up to run the WSL, and many of England’s players establishing themselves as household names.

So with everything pointing in the right direction, why do brands continue to court the women’s game like it’s 2019?

For this summer’s Women’s Euros, there’s a distinct lack of original thinking and approach as to how to align with a game that’s soon to break into the world’s top five sports. 

There’s the habitual association with female empowerment and supporting the next generation, which of course isn’t a bad thing, but it’s just done in a way that doesn’t feel particularly progressive or fresh.

Visa’s Women’s Euro 2025 ad

Visa is “Always in Your Corner”, with an advert that abruptly goes from showing a young girl practising her shooting in the rain to suddenly being on the biggest stage. 

It’s over in a flash, with no real narrative arc or insight into what that journey might actually be like. It feels cliched, cheap and with the shoe-horning of their credit card product into the commercial, it teeters on insincerity.

Sports Direct’s Women’s Euro 2025 ad

Then there are a couple of commercials that have pulled the same trick of calling out players’ names in an attempt to educate the audience on who the stars of women’s football are (or at least who were available for their advertising). 

Sports Direct has channeled its inner Nike to create a jumpers-for-goalposts scenario where kids are having a kickaround with some of their professional heroes.