Women's Super League icons including Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood and Lauren James join forces as new research unveils the role of sports stars in inspiring young womenThursday 19 September 2024
Viviane Asseyi
Alex Greenwood
Leah Williamson
Lauren James
Maya Le Tissier
Taylor Hinds
Jessica Naz
Hayley Nolan
Janice Cayman
Maz Pacheco
Megan Finnigan
Poppy Pattinson
Viviane Asseyi
On the eve of the 2024/25 Women's Super League season, new research reveals the power of increased visibility of female athletes, as an overwhelming 88% agree that watching female athletes on TV inspires young women to participate in sports.
To celebrate the return of England's topflight of women's football, Sky Sports brought together one player from every WSL club for a star-studded shoot, with their outfits representing each athlete's personality and the intersection between fashion and football. The shoot is part of the Sky Sports Editions series which celebrates incredible women who are breaking barriers, setting records and inspiring fans to participate, watch and follow their sport.
The WSL Edition aims to put a spotlight on players from across the League, as new data commissioned by Sky Sports shows that nearly 70% of people see professional athletes as the most influential role models in sport for young women, showing the crucial role female footballers play in shaping the next generation.
The impact of female athletes goes far beyond the pitch too. According to the findings, more than three quarters (78%) believe female footballers are becoming more prominent in both celebrity culture and fashion. The fusion of football and fashion is broadening the sport's appeal, with players shaping trends and expanding the sport's cultural reach as 44% of 18-29-year-olds say they are likely to purchase a fashion item worn by a player.
Breaking down stereotypes has emerged as the leading reason for having role models in sport, with one fifth of respondents emphasising its importance, followed closely by the inspiration young women draw from seeing female athletes in action (19%), motivating them to take part in sports or physical activities themselves.
Alex Greenwood, Manchester City player and Lioness said, The WSL is an amazing league and to have each club represented at this shoot with Sky was great to see. Whilst we're on different teams, we are in it together to keep inspiring the fans & pushing the women's game forwards.
As the WSL kicks off, with players regularly featuring on screens again, respondents also make it clear that broadcast coverage is crucial in promoting female athletes, with 79% agreeing that TV plays a vital role in increasing visibility of sporting role models.
Jo Osborne, Head of Women's Sport at Sky Sports said, "At Sky Sports, we are dedicated to showcasing the exceptional talent in women's sports, not only to entertain, but to inspire fans and encourage greater participation especially amongst the next generation. Bringing all the Women's Super League clubs together for this shoot is the perfect way to kick off the season and build excitement for seeing these incredible players back on our screens this weekend."
This season the WSL returns to Sky Sports, starting with a blockbuster opener where Arsenal will host rivals Manchester City at Emirates Stadium, exclusively live on Sky Sports and streaming service NOW on Sunday 22 September. Coverage starts at 11:30am on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Showcase - available in all Sky homes and included in a NOW Entertainment Membership.
Days before the 2024/25 season kicks off, players that came together on set were: Leah Williamson (Arsenal), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United), Taylor Hinds (Liverpool), Jessica Naz (Tottenham Hotspur), Maz Pacheco (Aston Villa), Viviane Asseyi (West Ham United), Hayley Nolan (Crystal Palace), Megan Finnigan (Everton), Poppy Pattinson (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Janice Cayman (Leicester City).
About the surveyThis online survey of 2000 UK adults (nationally representative) was commissioned by Sky Sports and conducted by market research company Perspectus Global, in accordance with the Market Research Societys code of conduct. Data was collected between 15/08/2024 and 19/08/2014.
About SkySky is one of Europe's leading media and entertainment companies and is part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments and experiences that matter. At Sky we Believe in Better. It's in our DNA.
About NOWNOW is the home of brilliant entertainment. We're one of the UK's leading streaming platforms with critically acclaimed shows, new and exclusive movies, unmissable sport and epic kids TV - all with our fully flexible Cancel Anytime memberships. Join in with an Entertainment, Cinema, Sports or Hayu Membership to stream instantly across TV, mobile, gaming consoles or desktop on over 60 devices. Watch on the go and offline with our app by downloading shows and movies.
Entertainment Members can enjoy critically acclaimed dramas, documentaries and comedies, Emmy award-winning shows, the best of HBO and exclusive Sky Originals. Cinema Members can discover over 1000 brilliant movies, from the latest blockbusters to classic favourites. Sports Members cheer on unmissable Premier League, international cricket, F1, golf and more - all live, across 12 Sky Sports channels.
Plus, members can enhance their experience with NOW Boost - that's ad-free streaming on up to 3 devices at once, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and full 1080p HD for an extra £6 a month.
For super-fast broadband, members can enjoy a contract-free connection with a NOW Brilliant Broadband, Fab Fibre or Super Fibre Membership.
Latest news
Full trailer released for
Most recent headlines
09/12/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced that it has been named an IDC Innovator in the IDC Innovators: ...
09/11/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced three new members of its executive team. Tara Bryant joins as Chi...
19/09/2024
UKTV has commissioned the new series, Classic Car Kings (6x60'), for leading factual channel U&YESTERDAY and free streaming service, U. The six-part series ...
19/09/2024
Visit ToolsOnAir at NAB New York 2024 Javits Center, October 9-10, 2024
The ToolsOnAir team is excited to meet you again in person at NAB New York 2024 at ...
19/09/2024
Writer-director Jennifer Kent's The Babadook is returning to the big scree...
19/09/2024
Blue Lucy is bringing its new media portal, BOLT to MIPCOM 2024, Cannes, October 21-24th. On stand P-1.C50A at the MIPCOM Innovation Lab 2024, the team will de...
19/09/2024
The sale will ensure the studios continues to achieve its potential into the future, said the council
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: September 19, 2024
Th...
19/09/2024
BENGALURU & DEHLI, India & BALTIMORE, Md. The long-awaited dream of Next-Gen TV reception on mobile phones took a big step forward today with the joint announce...
19/09/2024
CHICAGO & EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) and DirecTV announced a multiyear distribution agreement to provide the network and its live local ga...
19/09/2024
NEW YORK Spectrum Reach, the advertising sales business of Charter Communications, has announced a new multi-year agreement with Amazon Ads that will make Spect...
19/09/2024
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. The Southeastern Conference is reporting that it will be using a multi-sport video review system supplied by Hawk-Eye Innovations, which is par...
19/09/2024
LONDON Rise, the gender diversity network for the media technology industry, has announced the shortlist for the Rise Awards, which will take place on Tuesday N...
19/09/2024
A new study indicates that manufacturers of streaming media devices will have to look outside the U.S. growth in the next few years, as global streaming media d...
19/09/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Camera for Android 1.3 Update!
Brie Clayton September 18, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced Bla...
19/09/2024
Chyron Unveils Future of Graphics Playout Workflows With PRIME 5
Brie Clayton September 18, 2024
0 Comments
PRIME Leverages gRPC API for Bidirectional...
19/09/2024
Jigsaw24 Media introduces new Adobe workflow ecosystem, supported by technology ...
19/09/2024
StackAdapt said it made a deal with Experian to integrate the data and analytics firm's identity graph and syndicated audiences into the StackAdapt platform...
19/09/2024
Wrestling special Saturday Night's Main Event airs live on NBC and Peacock Saturday, December 14. The WWE special will be held at Nassau Veterans Memorial C...
19/09/2024
CBS airs An Oprah Special: The Presleys Elvis, Lisa Marie and Riley on Tuesday, October 8. The hourlong special sees Oprah Winfrey interview Riley Keough, gra...
19/09/2024
Mike Nelson, senior VP of communications for CBS News, Stations and Media Ventures, will step down at the end of the month. After a long run in CBS Stations, he...
19/09/2024
WNBC-WNJU New York, the NBC-Telemundo duopoly, is holding its Star Choir competi...
19/09/2024
WGBA, an NBC affiliate in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said it named Bob Schaper was news director, effective October 28....
19/09/2024
Hulu's Only Murders in the Building (Season 4) returned to the top spot in TVision's Power Score ranking of the top shows streaming on connected TV for ...
19/09/2024
Roku said it launched Roku Ads Manager, a self-service platform designed to attract performance marketers who use social media and search and enable them to buy...
19/09/2024
Invicta Fighting Championships, Anthem Sports & Entertainment all-female mixed m...
19/09/2024
Animated Alternative Broadcasts Go Local: Inside NBC Sports Chicago's Animat...
19/09/2024
CBS Sports Launches Beckham & Friends' Altcast for UEFA Champions League Co...
19/09/2024
SVG Sit-Down: Ross Video's Jim Doyle Details New Drones-as-a-Service' O...
19/09/2024
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: As HDR10 Adoption Grows, Bill Mandel and Makoto Mori...
19/09/2024
SVG Sit-Down: Pac-12 Enterprises' Michael Molinari Says State-of-the-Art Pro...
19/09/2024
Joe Lycett to inaugurate International Day of Birmingham' on 24th September...
19/09/2024
Winners revealed at the Sky Arts AwardsThursday 19 September 2024
Lindsey Mendick
Mr Bates Vs The Post Office
Aigul Akhmetshina
Fern Brady
Ryan Calais Came...
19/09/2024
Rohde & Schwarz and NOFFZ enable the next level of automotive radar production w...
19/09/2024
Rohde & Schwarz presents photonics-based ultra-stable tunable THz system for 6G ...
19/09/2024
Back to All News
What We Watched the First Half of 2024
Entertainment
19 September 2024
Global
Link copied to clipboard
Today, we're sharing our lates...
19/09/2024
We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the Prolific North Marketing Awards 2024!
ICG has been nominated in the category of Full Service Agency of the Yea...
19/09/2024
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Sept. 19, 2024 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that U.S. service provider Bluepeak Fiber is taking a major step toward future-proof...
19/09/2024
For the past six months, Barry O'Kelly of RT Investigates has been filming at protests against accommodation for migrants. The programme to be broadcast to...
19/09/2024
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
WATCH OUR INSTA CLIP HERE.
Fresh from the E...
19/09/2024
All the electricity that powers NVIDIA's global operations will come from renewable sources by the end of January.
It's the right fuel for the company&...
19/09/2024
GeForce NOW makes gamers' fantasies a reality by bringing top titles to the cloud. This week, the award-winning FINAL FANTASY XVI is available for members t...
18/09/2024
Johnny Vegas & Lucy Beaumont and Babatunde Al sh & Kae Kurd arethecomedians taking part in brand new episodes of World's Most Dangerous Roads, which return...
18/09/2024
The nation's favourite comedy channel, Gold, is set to take a reflective loo...
18/09/2024
Press Release: ToolsOnAir Wins 2024 OEM & Developer Award from Blackmagic Design...
18/09/2024
Warning: This feature contains spoilers about the film.
By Bailey Pennick
Aaron Schimberg kept it brief in his introduction before A Different Man had its wor...
18/09/2024
Apoyar a los artistas emergentes es parte fundamental del ADN de Spotify. Ahora ...
18/09/2024
Supporting emerging artists is a fundamental part of Spotify's DNA, and we&#...
18/09/2024
Karmic lessons and laughs with new SBS podcast Comedy Karma'
18 September, 2024
Media releases
Join the ever-curious stand-up comedian Aditya Gautam a...
18/09/2024
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
Women's Super League icons including Leah Williamson, Alex Greenwood and Lauren James join forces as new research unveils the role of sports stars in inspiring young womenThursday 19 September 2024
