Visa celebrates the countdown to FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ in Australia and New Zealand

07/20/2022

Visa, a world leader in digital payments, joins celebrations to officially mark one year to go until the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ kicks off across Australia and New Zealand. The Exclusive Payment Service for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, Visa, today announces its local roster of Team Visa athletes, and exclusive access to pre-sale tickets for Visa cardholders from October.

Designed to help athletes succeed in their athletic career and beyond, Team Visa has championed more than 550 athletes since its inception in 2000, with over 55% women. As the first Women’s Football Partner for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, Visa is extending current Visa ambassador and Australian Matilda’s star, Ellie Carpenter, and welcoming newcomer, Football New Zealand’s 2020 Female Player of the Year and Football Ferns player, Claudia Bunge.

Matilda’s star, Ellie Carpenter is hopeful of cementing her place in the starting side to take on the world’s best as part of the Women’s World Cup spectacle next year.

“There’s nothing better than representing your country and to have an opportunity to do so in Australia, in front of family, friends and fans, is even more motivation,” Carpenter said. “Visa has been a significant supporter of not just my own sporting journey, but so many other female athletes across the world, on and off the pitch, and there is already a lot of anticipation around this major moment in women’s football.”

“New Zealanders love their sport and it’s fantastic to be partnering with an organisation like Visa, who have been proud and passionate supporters of women’s sport for many years and who provide opportunities for the next generation of female football players right around the world,” said Claudia Bunge.

With over a billion people expected to tune in and hundreds of thousands of fans to attend matches across Australia and New Zealand between 20 July and 20 August next year, Visa cardholders will have exclusive access to pre-sale tickets starting in October.

“Women’s sport is growing worldwide at an exponential rate, and women’s football in particular. Visa has a long and proud global history of championing women – whether they are building a business or scoring goals on a World Cup pitch and we’re looking forward to our cardholders having priority access to the first tickets when they go on sale later this year,” said Visa Head of Marketing for Australia and New Zealand, Natalie Lockwood.

Visa is one of the world’s most active sponsors of women’s football. Through the company’s sponsorship of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023™ and other leading women’s football organisations around the world, the company strives to be a catalyst for change and contribute to the growing recognition of women’s football. The FIFA Women's World Cup 2019™ was watched by a record 1.12 billion viewers1 and marked Visa’s largest onsite investment in women’s football.

As the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ heads to Australia and New Zealand, marking the first time the tournament will be played across two countries and be expanded to 32 teams, Visa will enable one-of-a-kind experiences for football fans globally, activate the Player of the Match award, incorporate its Team Visa program for women footballers and utilise Visa’s exclusive marketing campaign assets to drive business priorities for its products and partners.

For the latest news and information on the tournament, visit www.FIFA.com/womensworldcup or use the hashtag #FIFAWWC.

 

Note to editors

Given the correlation between success in sport and business – 94% of women in the C-suite have played a sport at some time in their lives2 – Visa’s support for women does not end on the pitch. Visa continues to develop programs that open more opportunities for women on and off the field, including:

  • The Second Half: Launched in the UK in early 2021, the Second Half is a Visa career development program to support female footballers in Europe as they consider careers beyond football. The program helps women recognise how to translate the skills they have developed – perseverance, teamwork, and commitment – outside of sport.
  • She’s Next, Empowered by Visa: Broader Visa programs – such as She’s Next – support women entrepreneurs around the world and work to close gaps with educational tools, mentorship and meaningful funding.

Visa’s first-ever sponsorship of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ complements its global investment in women’s football, including its ground-breaking partnership with UEFA Women’s Football, and sponsorship of the U.S. Soccer Federation, including the U.S. Women’s National Team and the SheBelieves Cup. It also builds on Visa’s longstanding partnership with FIFA, including the FIFA World Cup™, FIFA Women's World Cup™ and other FIFA events.

 

1 FIFA, October 2019
2 EY, “Why a Female Athlete Should Be Your Next Leader”, September 2020

 

About Visa Inc.

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at Visa.com.

Images of Visa women’s football ambassadors, Ellie Carpenter (AUS) and Claudia Bunge (NZ) are available upon request.