What convinced Fever to invest in women’s football?

Fever has been strongly committed to sport for several years now. One of our most significant announcements came two years ago, when we signed a long-term partnership with FC Barcelona running until 2030, becoming the club’s official ticketing partner and supporting marketing and event operations at the new stadium. Since then, our sports vertical has continued to grow. We operate in Spain and internationally, working with clients such as LIV Golf —a new league we’re helping to establish— the Formula 1 project in Madrid, and even FIFA, supporting competitions in Qatar last year and the Finalissima, which is currently being defined. Sport has become one of our strategic pillars. In fact, today we’re also announcing a project with FIBA in Badalona.

Mercury first approached us when they acquired Como FC and presented their project. From the beginning, it made a lot of sense. Studies suggest that by 2030, women’s football will be the fifth-largest sport in the world. There is a clear business opportunity, a clear opportunity to grow the fanbase, and what’s most interesting for us is that it aligns perfectly with Fever’s strengths: we are a technology company that specialises in ticketing, stadium mapping, seat sales and access control, while also driving demand for live entertainment — which is the core mission of the company.

What specific opportunity does Fever see in women’s football?

Fever’s mission is very clear: to democratise access to live entertainment and create new ways for people to discover and attend events. And we believe women’s football offers a real opportunity to convert the attention it already receives —especially in Spain, with the national team being world champions— into actual attendance at stadiums. That’s where Fever can add value.

This is why the agreement made complete sense: it represents a symbolic but meaningful commitment to helping bring more people into women’s football stadiums.

Liga F often highlights that the big challenge is filling stadiums. What can Fever contribute?

Fever won’t solve this alone. We want to help, but responsibility is shared. The players are the sport’s main ambassadors, doing exceptional work. Then each actor has a clear role: clubs investing in better facilities, the league supporting the ecosystem’s growth, the media amplifying visibility. Fever contributes through its ability to generate demand via ticketing.

A good example is Candlelight: we’ve managed to attract younger audiences to classical and instrumental music through creative marketing and constant presence. Women’s football needs something similar. The reasons people attend a women’s match differ from the men’s game — the atmosphere is different, the audience is different — and that’s where Fever wants to work: on the message, the framing, and how to activate new audiences.

Is this your first involvement in women’s football?

No. We already work with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, including their women’s teams. But in those cases, we mainly provide the club’s ticketing technology — a more passive role.

Our goal now is different: we want to take a more active role, offering marketing packages and audience‑activation solutions. That’s the major difference between what we were doing and what we’re starting with the Badalona Women partnership. It’s the big bet we want to make this year, because we believe women’s football will continue to grow, but it needs that push.

When we analyse why people buy tickets for women’s football, the motivations resemble other entertainment segments: family plans, parent‑and‑child outings… situations where demand needs to be created and encouraged. That’s where we want to focus.

What do you mean when you say it’s a “symbolic” agreement?

There is money involved. We have an agreement with Mercury, and this is actually the third team in their group we work with: Como FC, Bristol, and now Badalona. A strong partnership has formed, both technologically and financially. Without going into private details, the strongest component is marketing: how we can drive demand for the club, increase recognition, and build awareness around the brand and women’s football.

When I say “symbolic”, I mean that although we work with more than 20 clubs in Spain, we don’t appear on any of their shirts — but we will appear on Badalona’s. It will be the first time Fever appears on a club’s kit in Spain.

Why now?

It felt symbolic because, aligned with Mercury and their vision of growing the women’s football business, starting with Badalona made sense — while also helping our other clients fill their women’s stadiums.

Considering Barça dominates audiences, how can the rest grow?

FC Barcelona is our client. They were one of the first clubs we informed about the Badalona Women sponsorship and our presence on the shirt. They were genuinely pleased. They told us the big challenge is giving women’s football more visibility. Even Barça —with strong TV numbers, strong attendance and star players— still sees huge room for growth.

They said: “Supporting Badalona is great, because it increases recognition and helps all of us.” The agreement is with Badalona, but we want all our clients to succeed. We believe the pie needs to grow: there will be more for Barça and more for everyone else.

Why Liga F and not the WSL?

Our DNA is very tied to Spain. The three founders are Spanish, our main office is in Madrid, and in sports we are market leaders in Spain. In other markets we’re growing fast, and we’re having success with international leagues too.

But Liga F is a natural opportunity: most of the clubs already work with Fever. We want to offer better solutions. Today they see us mainly as a ticketing provider, not necessarily as a growth partner. That’s the conversation we want to start. Mercury approached us, but it aligned perfectly with what we were looking for.

Have you spoken with Liga F yet?

It’s worth doing. Anyone investing in women’s football should be asking the same question: how do we grow the pie? In many industries, the pie already exists and you fight for a slice. Here, we’re baking the pie. And the more people invest and the more ingredients we add, the bigger it will be.

This all happened very quickly because of our relationship with Mercury. Honestly, I haven’t yet met with Liga F.

How does Fever plan to activate new audiences and connect more effectively with women’s football fans?

We’re talking about a league with world champions and some of the best players on the planet. It’s a huge opportunity. Our team saw this project as the starting point for thinking more deeply about women’s football.

Fever has its secret media network, where we’re already creating more women’s football content, and we’ve set a goal to increase that further. We believe that’s the type of audience we can bring to matches.

We also want to commercialise the match beyond the sporting aspect: as a family experience, a social plan, highlighting all the benefits of attending. Right now, consumers don’t have that top‑of‑mind awareness — and that’s the challenge.

What is Fever’s long‑term strategy in women’s sport?

Women’s football is growing rapidly here, but if you look elsewhere you see similar trends: in the US, women’s volleyball is booming; in other countries, women’s basketball is taking off. Women’s sport in general is an area we’re paying close attention to, identifying where we can make meaningful bets and develop specific solutions.

We want to stay ahead of the curve and find opportunities. This partnership also forces us to grow internally: our marketing team now needs to understand what it takes to sell more tickets, develop more concrete packages and create solutions that help bring people to stadiums.

I don’t know if we’ll find the answer in a month, two months or a year — but we’ve already started looking.

Interview: Irati Vidal