Women's football has taken a significant step forward with a commercial deal for television rights being agreed in the UK.

After signing a three-season deal, England's Women's football Super League (WSL) will be broadcast on the BBC for free, while the broadcaster Sky will begin paying for its rights.

For the first time in a decade, the Football Association (FA) has generated revenue from the sale of the WSL. The FA said the deal with Sky was a "multi-million" dollar agreement, set not to exceed $14 million.

In the new deal, the WSL will take up at least 18 slots on BBC One and BBC Two from the 2021-22 season, allowing it to gain a bigger audience as Europe's only fully professional women's football league and is believed to be the biggest broadcast deal of any professional women's football league.

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The majority of the live games, at least 35, will be aired on Sky Sports, which also airs the men's English Premier League games.

Barbara Slater, the director of BBC Sport, told AP: "We are delighted to offer the FA Women's Super League a free-to-air platform to ensure the sport, and the players, connect with the widest possible audience."

The FA's director of women's football, Kelly Simmons, said it was a "landmark deal, not just for the WSL but also for the whole of the women's game; it's really going to help us grow and engage our fan base."

She added: "It is transformational. This is mainstream. This is prime slots on television, big audiences, week in, week out. And I think it's such an exciting step for the women's game."

Previously WSL games on the BBC were only shown live on streaming or interactive TV services. The men's Premier League games are usually live on subscription services in Britain.

Source(s): AP