With new plans for 2024, the Passa a Bola duo talks about their experiences and highlights the challenges faced by women’s football
Alê Xavier and Luana Maluf are among the main names when it comes to sporting influence. Currently, the presenters and commentators have been in charge of the Passa a Bola channel since 2021, which has more than 100 thousand subscribers on YouTube and Instagram.
After a three-year relationship with NWB, this will be the first in which they will “stand on their own two feet” and, at that moment, they decided to resume the channel’s activities after a six-month break with the launch of the podcast “Speak, baby “, which aims to promote conversations about the world of football outside the pitch. The first episode was released this Tuesday (28).
Furthermore, they are also members of the “Paris é Brasa” project, created by YouTube in partnership with Play9 and the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) for the Paris Olympic Games, which will begin on July 26th and which has names like Fátima Bernardes, Igão e Mítica (Podpah), Matheus Costa, Valen Bandeira and several others.
“We had two big goals for this year: to be at two big sporting events. ‘Paris é Brasa’ was a really cool thing because it’s a project that came to us and, when it was presented by Rafael Romano (marketing director from Podpah), we were already at the presentation”, said Alê Xavier.
Luana also highlighted that the duo wanted to be present at the event because of women’s football, as this year the CBF athletes will be the only Brazilian representatives of the sport and the games could be the last in which the public will see Marta and Cristiane Rozeria with hopscotch.
With all the spotlight focused on the Brazilian women’s team, the Olympic Games appear to be an opportunity to boost the sport, just as happened in Tokyo with the rise of skateboarding thanks to the performance of Rayssa Leal, the little fairy, who boosted it in 79, 9% on the sale of sports-related items at Netshoes, in 2021, when he won the Tokyo Olympic medal.
“We want to give a very specific vision of the fans, women in the stadium and how it will work, especially because the men’s team did not qualify and we hope that all eyes will be on the women’s team”, he added.
Speaking of women’s football, Alê and Luana occupy the space of spokespeople for women who did not have the opportunity or space to practice the activity when they were younger. Initially, Passa a Bola was a collective of women who got together to play but, in 2021, it became a vehicle for communication, entertainment and discussion of the topic.
Dealing with a topic considered delicate and which, unfortunately, still faces various prejudices on the part of the public has been a constant challenge, but for them, the work proves comforting when they see how far the sport has come — even if at a slow pace.
“We are surfing the best wave we could after working hard and, when I say we, I’m not talking specifically about me and Luana, but about all of women’s football. A lot of people worked hard for this wave to form and they have everything to do well from now on”, highlighted Alê.
Relationship with brands
Even with the “ball dropping”, the duo revealed that they still have difficulty finding partner brands. According to them, the work of searching for brands that are not only related to the sport but also have a purpose and that look at women with different eyes is constant.
“It’s harder to find brands that want to do this work in the long term, which is what we offer. We want brands that build projects to reap the results in the future, you know? And Adidas is one of those brands, for example, because they They looked at people and women and understand that this is history”, said Luana.
As members of the Adidas squad for some time, they also said that their contract was recently renewed and that conversations for the partnership to extend to the 2027 Women’s World Cup have already begun to emerge.
In addition to this, the duo will also be present in the men’s UEFA Champions League final, which takes place this Saturday (1) in the game between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, invited by Playstation.
According to Alê, the brand has always been a desire as she has always admired the activations that were carried out in the final of the competition. This year, they were invited to the project by two women: the brand’s global head and head of the agency.
“They only had one vacancy and they came together to get the second vacancy for us. Would this have happened if there hadn’t been two women there? Maybe our names wouldn’t even be considered”, asked Luana.
Regarding the challenges, they stated that they feel they always need to prove themselves, while the opposite is not true. For the duo, a man who has the traditional “boleiro” attitude, talks about football and has a male audience is already easily fit into the requirements sought by most companies.
“When we have to stay in a negotiation proving that it’s worth it, that the brand will be seen and heard, that says a lot more about how the market behaves than about what we have to deliver. It’s tiring and There are times when we question why it is so difficult for us, but we are fighting”, said Alê.
Eyes on 2027
The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be held in Brazil and, once again, a sporting event will prove to be an opportunity for the women’s team — which could win its first world title at home — and for the sport in general.
The competition will also be a great opportunity for brands to join the conversation and show support for the athletes, but for the Passa a Bola duo, anyone who wants to be part of the moment needs to start thinking and creating actions now.
“This World Cup is a cry of hope for a turning point and brands that want to participate will have to start creating a project now, because they need to build a relationship that can be done through sponsorship of clubs, players, social projects that make the country an environment focused on women’s football”, said Luana.
For the competition to reach even more people, Alê hopes that companies will mobilize — just as they do in the men’s World Cups — and pause activities so that the team can follow the games.
“There is a lot of social work to complete this legacy that we want to leave, so I think there have to be a lot of children, a lot of girls in the stadiums, a lot of projects so that we can change the country’s reality. This won’t be quick, but I hope that in 10 years women’s football will be a natural thing for people”, he added.
