Matchkit.co brings female athletes into the game

World Cup-winning Springbok star, Bryan Habana, has announced the first two months of traction achieved with his award-winning creative team's MatchKit.co, an innovative platform that gives athletes a ground-breaking solution for commercialising their digital brand.

The two-month milestone also comes with the announcement of a ground-breaking partnership with the JVW Football Club (JVW FC), owned by Banyana Banyana Captain, Janine van Wyk. JVW FC focuses on the development of female football players and along with Matchkit.co, gives the athletes the platform to reach higher levels in the sport.

Van Wyk says the partnership will continue to elevate the status of her developing athletes: “I am so glad that companies and brands are starting to see the great investment in the ever growing Women’s Football market. I hope that through this partnership and platform, more of our athletes will not only be able to be exposed to professional clubs, but to start branding themselves in a way which will influence more sponsors to come on board. I am excited for the future of this partnership, and know that this is still the beginning of many more great things to come.”

To date, MatchKit.co has signed up athletes who are connected to 2 600 000 fans globally, generated R44 000 in revenue and the tech has been used to crowdfund an additional R29 000 for charity. (These stats and more can be viewed in the MatchKit launch video (above).

“There is never a right time to start a new business but my team and I are proud to have leveraged the opportunities presented during lockdown as well as my own insights associated with athlete personal branding to bring a digital product to market that is already enabling all athletes / their agents generate an income in new ways,” Habana, who is a co-founder said.

MatchKit co-founder Mike Sharman adds, "We are buoyed by the calibre and diversity of our athlete sign ups as well as the sporting bodies and representatives that have signed up to use our minimum viable product (MVP) to date. We have already concluded deals with:

Janine van Wyk's JVW FC, where we are working together to help elevate the personal brands of the young women associated with the club

Irish Women's Rugby, where we are currently onboarding the international 15s team ProSport International, one of South Africa and Africa's largest management companies ProTouch professional cycling team all onboarded to enhance marketability and rider reporting for the benefit of sponsors Pollywog, surfing brand that will leverage our tech, in order to scout a new ambassador.

Habana's team went from registering the domain to launching MatchKit.co in a matter of three months, and have already attracted international sporting icons such as Thembi Kgatlana (Banyana Banyana and SD Eibar player), Tammy Beaumont (English cricketer), Rachael Burford (English rugby player), Brandon Stone (Professional golfer), and Henri Schoeman (Olympic Bronze Medalist) to name a few.

Every player is now complete with a MatchKit.