World Sevens: DJs, ‘party deck' — and the millions to revolutionise game

Times

2 days ago

Don't be fooled by the funky rules, loud music and late-season scheduling. Women's football's new seven-a-side tournament is not a cheap gimmick.
Granted, a walk around the venue within the modest Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota in Estoril, Portugal, made last week's inaugural World Sevens Football (W7F) event feel frivolous. One of the three temporary stands is a plush players' lounge, from which participants watched their rivals on comfy sofas or plastic chairs.
At the other end lies the comically named 'party deck', in which the atmosphere was sedate despite residing next to a tent serving alcohol. On one side of the ground, either side of a DJ playing in-game music, the VIPs were sitting grandly in cabanas.
Meanwhile, the action on the pitch was often bizarre. Before each game, the teams lined up opposite each other as though they were about to break into rugby-style war dances, only to advance jovially and shake hands with one (weirdly, always only one) opponent. No offsides meant players popped up in random places. When Ajax's Lily Yohannes strode up to a penalty, the Jaws theme music started playing.
Yet W7F's wacky elements signal its championing of fun, and the disdain for convention characterises its potential to transform. With its financial heft, truncated format and existence separate from traditional competitions, the impact on women's football could be seismic.
This was no end-of-season jolly for the participating eight clubs, which included Manchester City and Manchester United. Fronted by Jennifer Mackesy, a Chelsea minority owner, US-based investors have committed $100million (about £75million) to a W7F series over the next five years.
That is a huge sum, as is the $5million prize pot in Estoril. The first W7F winners, Bayern Munich, won $2.5million (about £1.86million), four times more than the £430,000 Chelsea got for winning the Women's FA Cup this month. Even Arsenal took their cumulative prize money to only £1.1million by winning the Champions League — and that was for a whole season's work, rather than three days.
Players and staff received 40 per cent of the prize money, encouraging them to compete seriously. Nicola Keating, who was in Estoril watching her 20-year-old daughter Khiara play for City, hinted at the high stakes.
'It's a life-changing opportunity for whichever team wins,' she said. 'For men, this would probably be a drop in the ocean, but for women that could be how many months' wages? It's life-changing money.'
Participants were reluctant to discuss the potential winnings but thinking about the payday would only be natural.
'As you get closer to the prize money and being the first winner, the jeopardy starts to come in and tactics start to change,' City's head coach, Nick Cushing, said.
Manchester United's situation epitomises the money's power. Marc Skinner, their head coach, has stressed that his squad needs investment but Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the United co-owner, has cited the relative lack of turnover when explaining his limited focus on the women's team. Pocketing £740,000 in three days, as United did by finishing runners-up to Bayern, could fund Skinner's transfer plans and display the potential of women's football to Ratcliffe.
Equally, the tournament is not a soulless pursuit of cash. The small pitch (half the size of an 11-a-side one), rolling substitutes, 15-minute halves and no offsides create attacking football compatible with Gen Z attention spans and enjoyed by players.
'It's a higher intensity, but more free,' Grace Clinton, the United midfielder, said. 'You can play, be skilful, link up, and it's very unpredictable. You just don't know what's going to happen, but it's more enjoyable [than 11-a-side].' There were 16 goals in 120 minutes on day one, and so great is the commitment to fun that Bayern Munich's Tuva Hansen had her yellow card rescinded after taking off her shirt in celebration.
Yet amid so much money, fun and innovation, it may seem too good to be true. So what's the catch?
The starting point is financial. Only 3,500 tickets were sold over the three days, and the broadcast deal with DAZN alone will not move Mackesy's group into the black. The tournament must enhance revenue streams.
'We would love to see cities around the world want to bring us into their communities and partner with them,' Mackesy said. Indeed, W7F needs to live up to its global identity. While all eight teams in Estoril are European, the second event at the end of this year will be held in the Americas. Justin Fishkin, Mackesy's co-founder, detailed plans for four 'regional' events before the fifth served as a world championship. Cracking the enormous women's football market of the United States, the expected location for the second event, is also crucial.
Nonetheless, Mackesy and Fishkin were guarded over their business strategy, so W7F's road to sustainability remains uncertain.
The fan experience could improve too, because the atmosphere at the 5,100-capacity stadium rarely turned lively before the Friday night final. Mackesy mooted using bigger stadiums, or springing up a venue in a large park.
Organisers perhaps sacrificed hosting in a bigger women's football nation to be on the Champions League final's doorstep, but this move was symbolic. While there is a desire to co-operate with governing bodies such as Fifa and Uefa, W7F is disturbing women's football's status quo.
Expansion beyond eight teams is envisaged and the women's football calendar is already packed. Fiskin emphasised working around the existing schedule but Tobin Heath, the former United States international who chairs the W7F advisory council, was more combative. 'The schedules are going to clear, just look at the prize pool we set,' she told the Full Time podcast.
With the successes tangible and concerns mostly hypothetical, W7F's genesis in Portugal was pretty good. And when an event is this lucrative and eyebrow-raising, a qualified success is enough to ignite revolution.