Fantasy WSL app announces it is to shut down
Getty ImagesOne of the most popular fantasy football leagues dedicated to the Women's Super League (WSL) is to shut down at the end of this season, its makers have announced.
Aerial Fantasy was one of several unofficial games developed after England's Lionesses won the 2022 Euros, and said it had grown to more than 30,000 users by last summer.
In a message to players, co-founder Dani Gonçalves said the team behind Aerial had tried to "work towards being an official game" but failed to reach any agreements.
In addition, she wrote, problems securing funding meant that the game would not return for the 2026-27 WSL season.
Gonçalves said she and Aerial co-founder Jimmy launched Aerial after seeing a gap for a fantasy football league geared towards the women's game.
After it launched in the 2023 season, she said it grew from 158 players to just over 10,000 in its first year - and "the number kept growing".
She said the pair worked in their free time to develop the league and focus on giving fans the best experience.
But, as the number of users grew, Gonçalves wrote, Aerial got more expensive to run and the team realised it "needed to sustain itself financially".
When it became clear they wouldn't be able to reach an agreement to become an official app, she said, other efforts to raise funds also fell flat.
"In our years of trying to make this sustainable, we've also found that brands have been hesitant to work with an unofficial game, giving us even less options," she wrote.
Gonçalves said the team had hoped to emulate Fantasy Premier League (FPL), a "fan-founded game before the Premier League worked with them on growing it to what it is today".
"We've been lucky that there have been so many kind and generous fans who have offered to donate to us to help in the running of the game," she wrote.
"And while we appreciate that so much, we've always been keen to make sure we could stand as a viable business."
Dani GonçalvesSpeaking to BBC Newsbeat, Gonçalves said the overall goal of Aerial fantasy was "to support the growth of women's sports".
She said it didn't "make sense" to continue at present, but she'd been "blown away" by the support they'd received.
"This audience, they're lovely," she said.
"Women's football has really embraced us and I found so much community in them it's definitely been the hardest I've ever worked. It's definitely been the most exhausting.
"It's also the most fulfilled I've ever been."
Gonçalves said the community that formed around the game had led to people making connections with others, and even drawn new fans to the women's league.
"We've had fans tell us, as far as Australia, that they never watched women's football until they played our game, and then they found other friends," she said.
"It has had all these knock-on effects, and affirms the fact that women's football is growing, these athletes are doing amazing things, and people want to engage and pay attention to it."
BBC understands that the WSL is in the process of developing a fantasy product for fans of the women's game.
