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between girls who were born, raised and became footballers in Lyon, and our international players. It’s an area where we could connect more with a fan base in those other countries. We are travelling a long path from trying to replicate what we used to do on the men’s side to creating a full, independent, 360 strategy for the women’s team. We are looking forward to having a staff team devoted solely to marketing the women’s side. I think it’ll change our whole mindset – being dedicated 100 per cent to the women. We are at a turning point – we want to go to a whole new audience, going deeper into the knowledge we have of our existing audience and enlarging it. We’ve reached our glass ceiling trying to tap into the men’s following. Now we need to bring more people to the women’s game. With our new collaboration in the USA, alongside owner Michele Kang and Washington Spirit of the
NWSL, I feel we can learn a lot from what they do. Before, we’ve pushed our messages to fans by focusing mostly on the sports side: a journalistic approach, reporting results and so on. Our next step is to start portraying our players as people, engaging with fans everywhere in a way that isn’t just about playing football, but their backgrounds and their stories on and off the pitch. We need to start putting a real value on attending women’s matches. Rather than inviting people and having cheap ticket prices, let’s think the other way round – build the basics of getting people interested in our players and then say, ‘OK – come and see them play and enjoy a great day out!’ The game alone is not enough. What can we come up with to make it special for our new target audience – the ones who are coming to us fresh and who are not already fans of the men’s team? It’s not just about the 90 minutes on the pitch.” n
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