Sports Technology4 min read

WSL and Mercury13 Use Sports Tech to Turn Women’s Football Into a Data Asset

The Women’s Super League and Mercury13 are accelerating investment in sports technology, signaling that women’s football is entering a new phase of data-led commercialization. Through partnerships with Sportable and Catapult, both organizations are building the infrastructure needed to improve performance, deepen fan engagement and create more valuable media and business products.

March 28, 2026

WSL and Mercury13 Use Sports Tech to Turn Women’s Football Into a Data Asset

Women’s football is moving beyond growth by participation and into growth by infrastructure.

The Women’s Super League and Mercury13 are making aggressive technology plays that could reshape how the women’s game is measured, coached and monetized. Through separate partnerships with Sportable and Catapult, both organizations are signaling that elite women’s football is no longer being treated as a niche asset, but as a data-rich business opportunity.

The WSL has partnered with Sportable in a move that will make it the first soccer league in the world to roll out connected smart ball technology. The agreement places the league at the front of a broader industry shift toward turning in-game information into a competitive and commercial advantage.

Working with WSL Football and official ball supplier Nike, Sportable will integrate connected ball technology into match balls and deploy player-tracking systems across WSL matches. Clubs will also have the option to use the system in training, creating a pathway for performance data to flow across the full football operation.

Beginning with the 2026-27 season, Nike, WSL Football and Sportable plan to expand the rollout into a fully connected data ecosystem. That would make athlete and ball-tracking technology available across training sessions and every WSL match, creating a standardized layer of intelligence across the league.

The commercial implications are significant. The data stream will capture ball speed, spin, flight, high-intensity efforts, contextual workload, team shape, tactical patterns and off-the-ball actions. For clubs and leagues competing on fine margins, that information can support recruitment, performance planning and broadcast storytelling — all of which can increase the value of the product.

Several WSL clubs are already using Sportable’s connected ball and player-tracking system, and more are expected to join before the league-wide rollout. That early adoption suggests the technology is moving from pilot phase to core infrastructure, a sign that women’s football is beginning to invest in systems typically associated with more mature elite sports properties.

Sportable’s leadership has framed the partnership as a way to create a consistent, data-rich view of performance from training ground to stadium while unlocking more advanced insights for teams and a more detailed experience for fans through broadcast.

The company is not new to elite sport, having previously deployed tracking and connected-ball solutions in American football and rugby union, including competitions such as the Six Nations. Its deeper move into women’s soccer reflects a broader trend: sports tech firms are increasingly viewing women’s competitions as high-potential growth markets where innovation can be deployed faster and with greater differentiation.

Mercury13’s agreement with Catapult carries a similar strategic message. The multi-club ownership group focused on women’s soccer will become Catapult’s exclusive official elite sports performance analytics and GPS partner, while Catapult will also serve as a non-exclusive official thought leadership partner under a multi-year deal.

The partnership covers Mercury13’s expanding club portfolio and extends Catapult’s existing relationship with Bristol City Women. It will now be expanded to FC Badalona Women, which Mercury13 acquired earlier this month, covering both the first team and academy, as well as FC Como Women academy.

Mercury13 entered women’s club ownership with the acquisition of Como Women in March 2024 and later added Bristol City Women. Its strategy has been built around women’s football as a standalone commercial category, not as a lower-cost extension of the men’s game. That distinction matters for investors, operators and technology vendors looking for scalable models in the women’s market.

Under the new deal, Catapult will help implement a women-specific performance model across the Mercury13 platform. The goal is to combine athlete monitoring, sports science research and coach education in a system tailored to the realities of women athletes.

Catapult will provide a fully integrated performance stack that includes wearable devices, analytics platforms, centralized data management and on-site practitioner support. For multi-club operators, that kind of standardized infrastructure can create scale efficiencies, improve player development and strengthen decision-making across geographies and competitions.

Mercury13’s leadership has positioned the partnership as a way to embed world-class performance technology and research across its ecosystem, with the longer-term goal of raising professional standards and building more durable foundations for elite women’s football.

Together, the two deals point to a larger business shift. Women’s football is no longer only attracting capital; it is increasingly attracting the tools, data systems and operating frameworks that can convert investment into long-term value.

Why It Matters

Originally reported bySportcal

Content Package

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WSL + Sportable and Mercury13 + Catapult are betting on connected balls & player tracking to turn women’s football into a data-driven game—boosting marginal gains, recruitment and fan storytelling from 2026/27.