Karen Carney calls on brands to split football club sponsorship money 50/50 between men and women

Former Chelsea and England star Karen Carney believes that major brands should split sponsorship money 50/50 between men and women when investing in football clubs.

Carney was speaking on Monday Night Football following the Lionesses' 1-0 defeat to Spain in the Women's World Cup final on Sunday.

Sarina Wiegman's side narrowly missed out on lifting their second consecutive major crown, having won the European Championship last summer.

They reached the final in Sydney without several key players due to injury, including Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, and became the first England side to reach a World Cup final in 57 years.

Attention now will turn to how further progress can be made across women's football in England - particularly the domestic structure. The Women's Super League is the only fully professional league in England.

Carney recently led a major review into women's football, with one of her recommendations being to make the Women's Championship - the second tier of women's football - fully professional.

Speaking to Sky Sports following the review, the 36-year-old also stated her belief that women's football could become a 'billion-dollar industry' if the right investment is made.

She elaborated on Monday Night Football: "People laughed at me when I said I believe it could be a billion-pound industry.

"There's appetite. There's conversations. It's going in the right direction, but that's why the review was so important. There's still that Insta vs reality. We need to fix that reality for the sport to really thrive, because it's built on sand still.

"It's not built on solid foundations. The one part that is thriving, that's the Lionesses, the England team. But the rest needs significant help to reach that level."

When quizzed by Jamie Carragher over whether clubs are not investing as much because they are not making money from women's football, she responded: "Men's football doesn't make profit.

"What clubs do in men's football, they invest in it, they're okay to have that loss. But the overall asset of a football club grows.

"There is a lot of stuff as well where, if a brand says, 'We sponsor a football club'. How much goes to men and how much goes to women? Or is it the club saying, 'Yeah, we'll fund the women' - how much is that?'

"I think big brands could go, and this is just my personal opinion, if a brand is going, 'We're going to invest in your football club', go 50/50. Say, 'Look, I'm giving 50 per cent to the men and 50 per cent to the women'. And state it.

"As a brand when you sponsor something, in my opinion, that's a big audience. It shouldn't just be one type of audience. I think brands have got to do a better job of that as well.

"I went somewhere last week and I had an argument with someone. I asked, 'Are you going to sponsor a team?' They said, 'Yeah', and I said, 'Are you going to make sure that funding goes equally to the women's game?' They said they'd look into it.

"If you're sponsoring the whole club, you have to be really clear on that. For me, there's still lots of issues that need to be raised. The sport has had a spotlight shone on it, which is great, but we still need to push the agenda because there's still so much that needs to be done."