ABOUT US

The Athens Women's Football Summit

A Global Family. A Unified Mission.

Our Mission, Vision, and Values

The Athens Women’s Football Summit (AthensWFS) is part of the fight to nurture positive social change and achieve women’s equal footing in football. It is a premier gathering and all-season organization with the purpose of promoting diversity and true inclusion of women in the sport, building an international consensus around the goals and means to be pursued, and fostering global investment opportunities in women’s football – all while equipping our network with the leadership, know-how, confidence and contacts that they need to continue pushing forward.

Despite the long and impressive history of women in football … crude stereotypes, ridiculous myths, underinvestment, dumbfounding short-sightedness, and inane discriminatory policies have hindered and discouraged women from playing the g ame.

Women and girls have faced a range of daunting challenges that have prevented them from achieving their potential and reaching the top of their game, including unconscious bias, sexist attitudes, unsafe environments, as well as under-representation in coaching, sports media, ownership and the halls of power. And yet, courageous pioneering girls and women play on and persevere. Together with their allies they continue to seek out the opportunity and respect they deserve and have promoted the fight for an equal playing field into an explosively evolving global movement where millions of girls and women around the globe play, follow, consume, suffer and rejoice in the Beautiful Game daily.

Women’s football is serious business. This is the bedrock upon which we build, the foundation for our actions. Our call to action of INVEST. EMPOWER. INSPIRE. WIN! proclaims our determination to bring the resources needed to make sure players receive the respect and professional environment they need and deserve. It also declares our conviction that women’s football has incredible revenue, marketing, sponsorship and investment potential. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is important to the growth of the girl’s and women’s game, but women’s football is not a charity. Solid economic roots, built on integrity and the best business practices, are needed to propel the women’s game onto the next level.

The future of women’s football is bright!

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WHAT WE DO

The Athens Women’s Football Summit (AthensWFS) is the year-round global home of women’s football and a unifying force for the girls’ and women’s Beautiful Game. Based in Athens and New York City but with members and strategic partners in cities around the world, AthensWFS is part of the fight to nurture positive social change and achieve women’s equal footing in football.

More than just an annual October gathering of the top sports and business stakeholders, it is a movement that establishes and supports game-changing projects, and conducts trailblazing digital and in-person activations around the world with the purposes of

increasing coverage of, fostering global investment opportunities in, and growing women’s football at all levels;
promoting gender equality, diversity and true inclusion of women in sport and business;
unifying all stakeholders, and building an international consensus around the goals and means to be pursued;
nurturing dynamic, new collaborations; and
clearing barriers and creating pathways for women to leadership and success

all while equipping its members and strategic partners with the guidance, know-how, confidence, and connections they need to innovate and continue pushing forward.

Our international network of associates and strategic partners, our industry-leading in-person and digital activations, and game-changing projects around the world, provide exciting opportunities for dynamic new collaborations which foster innovation, trailblazing investment, and intelligent, long-term business growth in connection with women’s football – the world’s most rapidly growing sporting, business, and social movement.

ACHIEVEMENTS
and
MILESTONES

Daily helping to drive the global growth of the Girls’ and Women’s Beautiful Game at all levels!

Inaugural International Conference of the Athens Women’s Football Summit (Athens, October 2019) – bringing together top international sporting, business, NGO, governmental and societal stakeholders around Girls’ and Women’s football
Awarding the first Athens Women’s Football Summit Award to the legendary Carolina Morace (October 2019)
September 2020 AthensWFS Facebook Webinar Series
Second Annual International Conference of the Athens Women’s Football Summit (Virtual, October 2020) – the largest ever digital summit focused on Women’s Football, viewed in over 100 countries on Facebook alone
Founding of the International Women’s Football Historical Society, powered by the Athens Women’s Football Summit (October 16, 2020)

First ever Athens Women’s Football Summit International Student Forum (October 16, 2020), a growing body of university students which will meet regularly going forward
Strategically partnering with Lewes FC – the first club worldwide to EQUALLY resource their Men’s and Women’s team
Strategically partnering with NOVA Channels, the top Pay-TV sports and entertainment broadcaster of Greece and Cyprus – as official Broadcast Partner for the 2019 and 2020 International Conferences of the Athens Women’s Football Summit. We were honored to have Katerina Kaskanioti (Pay TV Executive Director, Forthnet) speak at and participate in the 2019 and 2020 International Conferences of the Athens Women’s Football Summit, , and we are grateful to NOVA Channels for their enthusiastic support not only for AthensWFS but for women’s football in Greece/Cyprus and internationally.
After the 2019 Athens Women’s Football Summit, NOVA Channels and the Greek Football Federation (EPO) reached a groundbreaking agreement whereby NOVA would show live all Greek Women’s National Team matches (home and away)! The first such broadcast was the epic Greece-Ireland UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 Qualifier match on November 12th 2019, and AthensWFS was there. Since the 2019 Athens Women’s Football Summit, NOVA has also regularly covered international women’s football and spotlighted Greek Women’s National Team footballers throughout their sports broadcasting, including in pre-game and havetime shows during their coverage of men’s football. Thank you NOVA for your top-notch professional coverage and avid support for the women’s game!
Ahead of the 2020 International Conference, strategically partnering with:

The Sports Bra Project
Football for Humanity
Education2Sport
Her Football Hub
Girl Power Organisation

We are grateful to our strategic partners for their support and participation.

Sponsoring the Native American Coaches Social at the 2021 United Soccer Coaches National Convention, something we will be doing again in Kansas City in January 2022 … with a commitment on the part of AthensWFS in 2022 to host workshops and clinics with the purpose of helping to encourage more Native girls and women to play, referee, administer and coach football
Ahead of the 2019 International Conference, strategically partnering with:

Ticketmaster
Around The Rings
Direction Business Network
World Football Insider
European Football For Development Network (EFDN)
Lamda Quality Foods
BRW Consulting
A Friend MArketing Agency
Moneyballclub
DDC

We thank our strategic partners for their support and participation!

NOVA Channels, ERT and Art TV covering the 2019 International Conference of the Athens Women’s Football Summit and also bradcasting it LIVE and worldwide via digital streams
World class clubs, academies, cooperations, industry associations, NGOs, federations, and confederations participating in our in-person and virtual conferences, including top business and sporting professionals from VFL Wolfsburg, Leicester City FC, Houston Dash / Houston Dynamo FC, Lewes FC, NJ/NY Gotham FC (previously Sky Blue FC), AEK FC, Aris FC, Asteras Tripolis FC, Atromitos FC, APOEL FC, and Apollon Ladies FC and other elite organizations
Strategically partnering with The Hague University of Applied Sciences, a highly respected, industry leading educational institution which has provided the Athens Women’s Football Summit with its first official student intern (2020/2021), to be repeated annually
Having the participation of top minds from government and politics in the Athens Women’s Football Summit, including the Honorable Greek Ministers of Athletics (Hon. Leyteris Avgenakis) and Tourism (Hon. Harris Theoharis) who each spoke at our inaugural Athens conference in 2019
Development of new projects aiming to help grow girls’ and women’s football in diverse areas of the world from Puerto Rico to India, Greece to Brazil, Mexico to Kenya …and plans for in-person and virtual coaching workshops and player development and talent ID efforts delivered globally