Millions of people around the world, myself included, are beyond excited in anticipation of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ in July and August and Xero is incredibly proud to be a FIFA Women’s Football Partner.

While we’ll all be caught up in the excitement of the tournament, it’s important to keep in mind the legacy – the enduring benefit – we can create from this moment in time.

No doubt the incredible skills on display by the world’s top players will inspire the next generation of female footballers. But, with 70% of women’s football clubs operating at a loss*, there is an opportunity for our community to help improve the financial health of clubs if we want to grow the game.

Be the change you wish to see in the world

With this in mind, Xero has created the better numbers program which provides football clubs with resources and guides to help manage their books, as well as mobilising our community of accounting and bookkeeping partners with advice to help them help their local clubs.

Clubs are often supported by volunteers who are usually short on time and often short on the expertise needed to effectively manage their finances. So, we’re providing resources and ideas for accountants and bookkeepers on how they can support clubs and in the process forge stronger relationships with their local communities.

Our broader support for women’s football

With hundreds of them already using Xero, we’re of course already supporting clubs with a 25% discount on our accounting software subscription and a range of guides and other resources to help clubs run smoothly.

We also think of the better numbers program as tapping into many aspects of our broader support for women’s football, including:

• NZ Football through a club support program – Together Stronger – that is designed to set the benchmark for club standards nationwide, focusing on factors such as administration, leadership, financing, player development, and community engagement
• Lewes F.C. in the UK to highlight the importance of financial sustainability with the aim of attracting more girls into the sport
• The English FA working with their grassroots team, club consultants and county football associations to provide access to a comprehensive range of educational resources for clubs’ financial management
• FIFA’s women’s football development programs – Capacity Building for Administrators and Coach Education Scholarships – to facilitate commercial success and promote leadership

The passion that many of our own employees have for women’s football is evident and so we’ve also loved supporting our own internal version of the better numbers program, in the form of a fund, for our employee teams across the globe.  

* (source: FIFA Benchmarking Report: Women’s Football, June 2021)