Working with WSL Football – Subway Women’s League Cup Finals
Pledgeball and WSL Football embarked on their collaboration with the goal to deliver effective, league-led & fan-driven engagement campaigns around…
Pledgeball and WSL Football have worked together for two seasons in a row to activate around the Subway Women’s League Cup Final.
In 2025:
The collaboration between WSL Football and Pledgeball created a scalable blueprint for how clubs and leagues can engage their fans on climate around fixtures. Launched at the 2025 Subway Women’s League Cup Final in Derby, the campaign demonstrated how a major sporting event—often linked with high travel, energy use, and waste—can instead drive sustainable change.
Operationally, the campaign delivered firsts: Derby County FC eliminated single-use plastic bottles, introduced lower-carbon food options, and produced its first-ever carbon footprint report, giving WSL Football a baseline for future fixtures. These actions were communicated to fans and framed wider activations at the Final: the walk from station to stadium became an interactive journey, volunteers ran challenges and conversations, and supporters participated through low-carbon meals, recycling, and reusable cups.
"I attended the Women's Subway league cup final yesterday and, as a Chelsea fan, was not only very happy with the result, but also to see the Pledgeball team spreading the word!...I have been a big supporter of what you do for a few years as a football fan, sports lover and climate advocate. It is great to hear the impact you are having....thank you again for keeping us football fans on the ball when it comes to saving the planet!"
The impact was measurable and lasting. Pledgeball delivered climate engagement training to WSL Football staff, curated player-led videos and created influencer campaigns, which reached over 70,000 fans. Pledgeball also garnered insights from fans, with surveys revealing 97% of supporters believe clubs should address climate change, which will be used to directly shape WSL Football’s future strategy.
By combining leadership-led measures with fan participation, the initiative set a precedent for how clubs and leagues can use their platforms to engage audiences on climate.
In 2026:
The Subway League Cup Final came to the home of Pledgeball, Bristol, and took place at Ashton Gate Stadium. Through Bristol Sport’s industry leading sustainability initiative Project Whitebeam, a number of sustainability initiatives have been rolled out across Ashton Gate, as well as connected training facilities. With women’s sport being disproportionally impacted by the effects of climate change, WSL Football are keen to take up the mantle on sustainability, and saw Ashton Gate’s sustainability credentials as a real reason for choosing this venue.
It was the job of Pledgeball to:
- Before the final: Create content to successfully communicate all the great sustainability work done by Ashton Gate, the WSL and Bristol Sport to fans.
- At the final: Deep dive into the opinions of fans attending the final on the topic of sustainability, its importance to them, and how much they would like to see WSL Football leading on this topic.
Safe to say, we were up to our using fan engagement antics at the final too, with a whole number of challenges for fans to get involved in, with a chance to win retro jerseys. We offered 4 methods of fan engagement: Vox Pops with Pledgeball ambassador Ayisha Gulati, Quiz Questions, Keepy Uppys with our Pledge Ball, and more in depth interviews with our volunteer fact-finders.
We brought our content to life through working with content creator Rukiah Ally, our production partners Fever Pitch, Ashton Gate staff (thanks Pete and Celia) and the brilliant young footballers from Bristol Ladies Union FC
Give the content a watch here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DV1Hy7kDIU_/?hl=en
On the day, we gathered a range of both measurable and impactful insights from fans on their opinions on sustainability. One of many nice quotes included:
My kids really enjoyed the game and you guys made it more fun than just football