Football and online paywalls, the shirt that sells access

When fandom becomes a business

For Bonnie Brown, football imagery changed everything. After months of posting paid lifestyle content with limited reach, she experimented with something familiar, a Leicester City shirt. The difference was immediate.

Brown explained that football shirts function as a powerful signal on social media, drawing attention from male fans who already feel emotionally invested in the sport. According to The Athletic, she gained tens of thousands of followers after integrating football into her content, illustrating how fandom can operate as a form of digital currency.

Her experience reflects a wider pattern. Reporting by The Athletic found that several creators deliberately use football aesthetics on platforms like X to funnel attention toward subscription based services, where followers pay for photos, videos and personalised material.

Visibility comes with a cost

While the financial upside can be significant, visibility also brings risk. Brown said the early months of her online work were marked by anxiety and fear of being recognised in public, a concern echoed by others interviewed by The Athletic.

Read also: Porto gamble on experience with Thiago Silva return

According to the article, many women described a trade off between independence and exposure. Flexible working hours and improved financial stability sat alongside stigma, harassment and strained personal relationships. For some, the emotional toll appeared before the financial rewards arrived.

A famous name and amplified backlash

Alex Le Tissier’s experience shows how quickly football attention can intensify scrutiny. According to The Athletic, she began sharing paid content after her husband’s mental health struggles and gambling addiction left them in serious debt.

Her connection to former Southampton and England star Matt Le Tissier brought both traffic and hostility. She acknowledged that some subscribers were drawn specifically by her surname, a reality that increased her earnings while also attracting abuse from football supporters who accused her of damaging the family name.

She said that wearing Southampton shirts online generated the strongest reactions, even as the income allowed her to pay off outstanding debts. The reporting highlights how football symbolism can magnify both profit and condemnation.

Read also: Putin celebrates Paralympic flag comeback while Ukraine counts its dead

Gatekeeping inside football spaces

For Bella Mia, an Arsenal supporter and digital creator, the stigma attached to paid adult oriented content created barriers within football media itself. According to The Athletic, she struggled to be taken seriously as a football creator once her work outside the sport became widely known.

She described harassment from male creators and fans, including behaviour that blurred professional boundaries. Over time, she stepped back from some platforms before eventually returning with clearer personal limits, reframing her work as an act of creative control rather than shame.

Her experience reflects a broader pattern identified in the reporting, where men often act as informal gatekeepers of football’s online spaces.

Women, profit and double standards

Hull City supporter Elsa Thora pointed to what she sees as a persistent double standard. According to The Athletic, she noted that men who profit from football culture rarely face the same scrutiny as women.

Read also: Is Solskjaer coming back to Manchester United?

Thora, who has played football since childhood, said accusations of being a fake fan were common once her paid online work became public. She argued that the hostility was less about authenticity and more about discomfort with women monetising their presence in football spaces.

Pressure in the attention economy

The article also describes how competition within the creator economy has intensified. According to The Athletic, some contributors resort to increasingly provocative stunts to stand out, fuelling public backlash and internal pressure within the industry itself.

Women interviewed expressed concern that outrage driven visibility may be unsustainable, both financially and emotionally, particularly as platforms and audiences evolve.

Regulation, saturation and survival

Industry data cited by The Athletic shows stark inequality in earnings across subscription platforms, with a small percentage of creators taking the majority of revenue. At the same time, tighter online regulation in the UK and declining traffic to major adult sites have introduced new uncertainty.

Read also: Who is the president in FIFA: Trump or Infantino? Bladder expects a comback

Several women said they did not expect the work to last indefinitely. Brown said she now feels comfortable with her choices but worries about others entering the industry without support or realistic expectations.

According to The Athletic, the future of this intersection between football, paid content and online culture remains unclear, shaped by regulation, audience behaviour and a digital economy that rewards visibility while rarely protecting those who generate it.

Sources: The Athletic, Katie Whyatt

Read also: Pressure mounts across the Premier League after turbulent weekend