Following the Lionesses’ European Championship win more brands are rightly likely to look at women’s sport sponsorship but which sectors have already been doing so before the latest bandwagon starts rolling?

Our analysis of the 226 front of shirt sponsors across professional football, cricket and rugby teams in England revealed automotive, gambling and retail are the most prevalent sponsoring sectors.

However, when looking purely at women’s teams, it’s a different story: IT Services/Software (14.6%), Automotive (12.2%) and Financial Services (9.8%) are the most prevalent sectors.

The sectors particularly championing women’s sport can also be revealed by comparing the level of activity among women’s teams compared to men’s.

One method is comparing the share of sponsors a sector makes up among women’s teams versus men’s. IT Services/Software also comes out on top this way – accounting for 14.6% of women’s sponsorships but just 2.7% of men’s, a difference of +11.9% in favour of women.

Financial Services (+4.4% difference) and Recruitment/Training (+4.3%) follow next. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Energy & Utilities (-5.4%), Professional Services and Retail (both -4.8%) least concentrate their activity on women vs men.

Another method of assessing sectors most focused on women’s sport sponsorship is the share of their total sponsorships which are on women’s teams.

Hospitality / Event Services lead the way with 100% of all the sector’s sponsorships allocated to women’s teams but it’s a slightly misleading picture as it’s only one sponsorship. Recruitment/Training follows next at 67% but again this is only two out of three sponsorships.

IT Services/Software shows up again as particularly championing women’s sport with 55% of sponsorships being on women while Airlines/Aviation and Telecommunications follow next (both at 33%).

Again, this method reinforces how the likes of Retail, Travel & Tourism, Energy & Utilities and Professional Services – who are fairly heavy users of men’s sponsorship – do next to none or no sponsorship among women’s teams. These sectors tend to promote their credentials around gender equality so female-related rights holders could do well to show how a sponsorship with you could reinforce this message.