Vodafone Ireland has deepened its relationship with Irish Rugby by becoming Main Sponsor of the Ireland Women’s Team, with its branding moving to the front of the national jersey for the first time.

The agreement began in July and will run through to 2028, extending a partnership with the IRFU that has steadily developed across both the men’s and women’s games over the past decade.

It also represents a natural succession in one of the most established commercial relationships in Irish women’s sport. Aon had been the principal sponsor of the Ireland Women’s Team since becoming its first official sponsor in 2014, with its most recent agreement running until the end of June 2026.

Vodafone has been Main Sponsor of the Ireland Men’s Team since 2016 and extended that relationship in 2023 through to 2028. As part of that extension, the company increased its presence within the women’s game, appearing on the back of the Ireland Women’s jersey from 2024 while continuing its title sponsorship of the Women’s Interprovincial Championship.

The latest move, therefore, brings the senior women’s team much more prominently into Vodafone’s Team of Us rugby platform.

The first competitive outing with Vodafone on the front of the jersey will come when Ireland face the USA at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday, September 20, as part of the new WXV Global Series. Ireland will subsequently host Japan in Galway and Cork before travelling to South Africa for two Tests in Cape Town.

For Vodafone, the timing coincides with its 25th anniversary in Ireland and with a period of significant growth around the women’s national team.

Ireland’s final Guinness Women’s Six Nations fixture against Scotland in May attracted 31,294 supporters to the Aviva Stadium, a record home crowd for the women’s team and the first standalone Ireland Women’s international staged at the stadium. Ireland won the game 54-5.

That audience, alongside increased participation and greater visibility for the domestic game, provides an increasingly valuable commercial platform.

“Women’s rugby is attracting new players, new supporters and inspiring a new generation across Ireland,” said Vodafone Ireland CEO Sabrina Casalta.

“We believe everyone should have the opportunity to participate, compete and thrive in sport, and together with the IRFU, we are doubling down on our support to help build on that momentum and support the continued growth of the game for years to come.”

IRFU President Tony O’Beirne described the increased commitment as “a powerful endorsement of the continued growth and ambition of the women’s game in Ireland”.

The sponsorship also sits alongside Vodafone’s wider investment in women’s sport internationally, including its involvement as an official partner of UEFA Women’s Football.

 

Sport for Business Perspective

There is significance to the progression of this partnership beyond simply changing the logo’s position on a jersey.

Aon was an important pioneer, coming on board at a time when the commercial landscape around the Ireland Women’s Team was considerably less developed. Its sponsorship ultimately lasted more than a decade.

Vodafone is now taking over the lead position at a markedly different stage in the market.

Crowds are growing, the national team has a significantly greater profile, the international calendar is becoming more structured through the WXV Global Series, and women’s rugby is increasingly capable of delivering sponsorship value in its own right rather than as an addition to a broader rugby agreement.

Vodafone has also taken a staged route towards this position: Women’s Rugby World Cup involvement in 2017, the Women’s Interprovincial Championship from 2021, the back of the national jersey from 2024 and now Main Sponsor.

That progression is perhaps as important as the announcement itself.

It shows what a long-term investment pathway for women’s sport can look like, moving from support and activation to ownership of one of the most prominent commercial assets available to the national team.

For the IRFU, securing the lead sponsorship through to 2028 also gives commercial certainty during what could be another transformative period for the women’s game.

 

 

 

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Image Credit: IRFU and Vodafone

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