With the goal of expanding our footprint in women’s soccer and reinforcing our commitment to the growth and development of the sport, Relevent Sports Group launched the Women’s International Champions Cup Best XI Presented by Ally in 2020.
An objective in the creation of this program was to build off of Relevent’s successful annual women’s soccer tournament between top European and American clubs to promote and celebrate the game throughout the year. The creation of the WICC Best XI enhances Relevent’s support of women’s soccer following the summer tournament through an in-depth, multi-part content series honoring eleven people across the world who are doing the most to advance the game.
Successfully executed in a pilot program in 2020, the 2021 WICC Best XI expanded programming to include more diverse stories across the world of women’s soccer through in-person interviews repurposed in short mini documentaries.
Ally, a strong supporter of women’s soccer, came on board as a presenting partner of the project in 2020 and extended their partnership for a second year. A goal in the extension of the partnership was to strengthen Ally’s connection and integration into the program through custom content segments to complement each honoree’s narrative.
Building off a successful 2020 program, the 2021 WICC Best XI shined a light on unsung heroes of women’s soccer while also recognizing well known figures who have made a difference in the sport throughout their careers.
To execute the WICC Best XI, we created an advisory board of soccer experts to choose the 2021 honorees. The board consisted of three returning 2020 board members – Heather O’Reilly, Grant Wahl, and Vero Boquete; three inaugural winners – Moya Dodd, Bibi Steinhaus-Webb, and Meg Linehan; and one broadcast analyst - Lori Lindsey. The board advocated and debated during several sessions and selected the following people as the 2021 WICC Best XI honorees: four players - Christine Sinclair, Alexia Putellas, Formiga, and Quinn; two coaches – Emma Hayes and Monika Staab; one journalist – Suzy Wrack; three executives - Nadine Kessler, Tom Corbett, and Meskerem Goshime; one activist group – Mana Shim, Sinead Farrelly, and Kaiya McCullough, the three women that came forward with abuse allegations against NWSL coaches.
After the honoree selection, we sent a film crew to visit each of the winners and record an in-depth interview touching on their background, careers, and the impact they’ve had on women’s soccer. These pieces were edited into mini-documentaries ranging from seven to 18 minutes that were aired across the WICC and International Champions Cup social channels as well as DAZN’s platforms.
Ally, a long-term partner of the ICC and WICC tournaments, with a dedicated and far-reaching commitment to the women’s game, was presenting partner of the ‘WICC Best XI’ once again in 2021. Strengthening their integration in year two of the content project, they owned a standalone ‘Who is Your Biggest Ally?” content segment where each winner shared who has been their greatest Ally throughout their careers.
This custom branded clip complemented Ally’s larger integration into full project which saw their brand presence featured throughout the 2021 WICC Best XI intro video as well as each of the eleven winner videos.
The WICC Best XI project is unique in the diverse breadth of stories it tells from women’s soccer stakeholders across different continents, backgrounds, and career paths. Through personal storytelling, the mini-documentaries bring to light important inequalities that still exist in the sport as well as inspirational stories about overcoming barriers to pave a better future for the game.
The 2021 WICC Best XI Presented by Ally saw enormous success in its second year. With more than 3.3 million impressions and 89 thousand video views, the WICC Best XI series gained massive traction across the global soccer community.
With a diverse range of stories told and segments of the sport represented, the series was able to maximize reach through a content slate that appealed to different segments of the multifaceted international soccer community. DAZN shared each video across their global platforms, which increased exposure across the global sports community.
Additionally, creating a custom segment for Ally that was authentic to their brand objectives allowed us to achieve our goal of deepening our partnership to create meaningful content that was endemic to both of our brands.
