USWNT beats Brazil 1-0 in chaotic match as crypto remains absent from women’s soccer sponsorships

The US Women’s National Team ground out a 1-0 win over Brazil on June 9 in Fortaleza, a match that ended with referee Paola Cebollada Lopez handing out eight red cards to Brazilian players and staff.

What actually happened on the pitch

Sophia Wilson was the central figure in the match-winning sequence that gave the USWNT a clean sheet victory at Arena Castelao. The game, an international friendly in the window ahead of the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, was competitive throughout but descended into outright hostility late.

Brazil collected a staggering ten yellow cards over the course of 90 minutes. Four Brazilian players and four members of the coaching staff were shown red cards in the post-match chaos.

The ghost of crypto sports sponsorships

The National Women’s Soccer League saw this firsthand. Voyager Digital, once a prominent crypto lending platform, had established a sponsorship presence in the NWSL ecosystem. That relationship ended in spectacular fashion when Voyager filed for bankruptcy in mid-2022, leaving players and the league with unrealized payouts and a cautionary tale about the durability of crypto money in sports.

Voyager wasn’t alone. FTX had its name on the Miami Heat’s arena before Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire collapsed. Crypto.com paid a reported $700M for naming rights to the former Staples Center.

The NWSL was still fighting for financial stability and mainstream recognition. Having a sponsor implode and fail to deliver on financial commitments wasn’t just embarrassing. It was materially harmful to an ecosystem where every dollar matters more.

Why crypto investors should care about this gap

The 2021-2022 crypto sponsorship blitz was built on a theory: that brand awareness through sports would drive mass adoption. Exchanges, lending platforms, and token projects collectively spent billions on naming rights, jersey patches, and broadcast deals.

The NWSL’s experience with Voyager is a case study in why sports organizations now demand more robust financial guarantees from potential crypto partners. No digital asset company, token project, or blockchain protocol was associated with the match in Fortaleza.

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