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Football Manager and Sky Sports turn female gamers into real-life football coaches to close gender gap

Missing Managers by McCann London for Xbox and Sky Sports, global

UK – Xbox, Sky Sports and Football Manager have launched Missing Managers, a campaign created with McCann London that turns gaming into a real-world coaching opportunities for women.

Using Football Manager 26 on Xbox, female players are invited to complete the in‑game challenge First Victory. Those who succeed can apply to win fully funded professional coaching courses – including UEFA licences – and gain hands-on experience with women’s football clubs through The Powerhouse Project.

The campaign features Emma Hayes, US Women’s National Team coach, alongside former pros including Anita Asante and Izzy Christiansen, in a hero film and social content that explores what it takes to coach at the highest level.

Winners will also be immortalised as playable coaches in future editions of Football Manager, thereby increasing representation in the Xbox game and in real life.

By linking in-game achievements to professional coaching opportunities, the campaign blurs the line between gaming and real-world impact. It doesn’t just promote a game, it uses Football Manager as a platform to create tangible opportunities for women in a male-dominated field. This is a strong example of civic action from leading sports brands, showing how gaming can be leveraged for societal impact – a space Football Manager has become known for, particularly in its recent efforts to bring more women into football gaming.

For more on gender and growth in sports, read our Women’s Sports Economy report.

Strategic opportunity

Linking in-game achievements to real-world rewards creates deeper engagement and loyalty among female gamers. In this instance, it opens the door to developing long-term gamified pathways for skills development, extending beyond football gaming to other industries and professional roles

Foresight Friday: Rose Coffey, senior foresight analyst

Every Friday, we offer an end-of-week wrap-up of the topics, issues, ideas and virals we’re all talking about. This week, senior foresight analyst Rose Coffey muses on what Black Friday means in the age of perpetual commerce.

: Black Friday – a term born in the 60s to describe a day of consumer frenzy on the Friday after Thanksgiving – once marked the start of the shopping season. Today, it serves as a test for how effectively brands have connected with consumers throughout the year.

The act of shopping has transformed. Commerce is no longer confined to physical stores and retailer websites, it now intersects with culture, community, identity and media. A recent study found that nearly half (48%) of consumers maintain a perpetual mental shopping list, reflecting an ‘always-on’ mindset in which buying is threaded through the rhythms of everyday life.

: Even so, billions will still be spent across the peak promotional period. Black Friday weekend now bleeds into Cyber Monday, followed by a rolling cascade of seasonal deals, creating a near-continuous discount environment. This churn has normalised promotional culture: shoppers have become highly strategic, benchmarking every purchase not only on price and quality but on emotional and experiential value. As outlined in our New Codes of Value report, expectations are rising sharply. Consumers arrive more informed, intentional and value-attuned than ever.

: In a recent Instagram reel, brand strategist Tatum Brandt noted that shopping has shifted from the question ‘What do I need?’ to ‘Who am I becoming through what I buy?’ Perpetual commerce is being fuelled by this ongoing drive for self-curation and identity shaping. Every purchase has become a negotiation: consumers track prices, compare across platforms and seek products that represent who they are.

For brands, the implication is clear: short-term spikes won’t suffice. In a culture of constant comparison, value must be demonstrated consistently, credibly and year-round.

MoneymBag$ by Mackenzie Freemire, US

Quote of the week

‘We are curating identities online slowly and steadily… and purchasing goods that correspond with the identity we are trying to create’

Tatum Brandt (source: Instagram)

Stat: Gen Z women in the UK feel the sharpest gender tensions

Guess Originals, US

UK – New research from King’s College London and Ipsos suggests that while public discourse often frames gender as a battleground, most citizens in the UK disagree. Only 32% believe there is tension between men and women today – far lower than perceptions of conflict between immigrants and UK-born citizens (86%) or between political party supporters (68%).

The study of more than 4,000 people found that women aged 16–29 are the only demographic in which a majority (58%) perceive gender tension – a stark contrast to men their age (34%).

These emotional divergences extend beyond gender relations too. Young women are three times more likely than young men to believe that their own generation will have a better life than their parents (57% vs 20%), suggesting a split in confidence, ambition and perceived opportunity. While young men and women face the same economic conditions, the study suggests that their interpretations of what the future holds are increasingly out of sync.

We began tracking the fragmentation of Gen Z in our Generations Now and Next macrotrend report in 2024, which pointed to the lack of positive depictions of masculinity in popular culture and online as having an impact on younger males. Head to our Decoding Masculinity report for more on modern masculinity.

Strategic opportunity

How can your brand create a social campaign that gets young men and women working together, sharing achievements and celebrating each other’s perspectives to build optimism and break down perceived divides?