Behind International Women’s Rights Day, the day that notes the value of women, a stark reality remains for millions of women and girls around the world. These rights are still fragile, challenged, or even non-existent. Access to sport, education, and the freedom to choose one’s path are fundamental rights that, in 2025, remain unevenly distributed privileges.
While women’s football is gaining visibility and recognition, for too many young girls playing the sport remains a real obstacle course – convincing their families, confronting stereotypes, and asserting themselves in spaces where the simple right to play is not yet guaranteed.
Orange, Official Partner of OL Lyonnes, is speaking out about this struggle with a campaign by Publicis Conseil, The Match Before the Match.
The figures speak for themselves. According to the WHO, young girls drop out of club sports at an average age of 14–15 precisely when mixed-gender participation ends and finding a nearby women’s team becomes a structural challenge. In France, the French Football Federation (FFF) now counts more than 251,000 registered female players a historic record but aims to double that number by 2028. This ambition can only be achieved by tackling real barriers.
Among these barriers is geography. In rural areas, women’s sections remain scarce. Some players must travel more than 15 km round trip just to train, and opposing teams may be located on the other side of an entire region. Equal access to sport begins with equal access to the field.
“Sometimes we spend more time on the road than on the pitch,” stated a young player from an amateur club.
Orange has chosen to highlight these invisible yet very real obstacles, not to dramatise them, but to reveal the daily lives of these young players authentically – their strength, their determination, and their refusal to give up. Because behind every talent that shines on the field, there is a battle fought long before kickoff.
The Match Before the Match takes a clear stand, supporting women’s football means supporting equal opportunity and recognising that building tomorrow’s talent requires removing, today, the barriers that hinder the ambitions of all those who dream of playing, improving, and making their mark. For many years, Orange has been actively committed to gender equality within the company and in its societal engagements. Orange supports more than 200 amateur clubs across France through equipment grants designed to ensure fair playing conditions. Among them, 100 are exclusively women’s teams representing 50% of the program dedicated to women’s football, even before official financial parity was established. In addition, since 2019, more than 500,000 children have been educated about responsible digital use as part of the FFF’s Federal Educational Program, girls and boys alike.
On the evening of March 7, during the IF match on the eve of International Women’s Rights Day, Orange took its commitment a step further by broadcasting a 1-minute 45-second film retracing more than 100 years of women’s struggles in football. This manifesto film reminds viewers that women’s place in this sport was never granted – it has always been earned.
This statement is part of a historic and unprecedented global decision. For the first time, a federal commercial partner has allocated its sponsorship with full financial equality, distributing it 50–50 between women’s and men’s football through 2030.
“At Orange, we believe that talent should be able to flourish without barriers. With ‘The Match Before the Match,’ we are giving visibility to these extraordinary journeys and reaffirming our commitment alongside all the young girls who choose sport—and above all, who choose not to give up,” stated Quentin Delobelle, commercial communications director, Orange France.
Supporting the film is a series of exclusive interviews giving voice and visibility to these struggles. Three OL Lyonnes players speak with rare candour. Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha, and Marie-Antoinette Katoto discuss not only their journeys as elite footballers, but also the obstacles they have had to overcome as women – the closed doors, and the battles fought beyond the pitch simply to earn the right to step onto it.
As well, Pauline Le Mouëllic, founder of the association Graine de Footballeuses, that supports young girls in their development through football and supported by Orange, offers a grassroots perspective, a reminder of what too many young girls still experience today – not impossible ambitions, but dreams that society has not yet learned to embrace. Her organisation supports young girls in their development through football, acting concretely where inequalities begin – in childhood.
The Match Before the Match film and interview series launched on IWD and are running on YouTube and Orange’s social media platforms. The entire campaign will be amplified in partnership with OL Lyonnes, the players, the Graine de Footballeuses association, and communities committed to gender equality in sport.
