Hot take: If you really, really love sports, chances are the game’s final score isn’t actually the most important part. And sometimes, it might not even be the sport itself.
Real sports fans know (hear me out) that the best part of any game is the joy: the exhilaration of scoring a goal, the roar of the crowd, the victory dances, the chants that somehow everyone knows—or, from the stands, hugging it out with everyone when someone on the field makes an unbelievable play. If the game itself was all that mattered, we’d watch it by ourselves in a dark room. But where’s the fun in that? The joy is what keeps us coming back for more.
For too many girls though, that joy is interrupted. Girls are often treated like outsiders in sports spaces—and, worse, research conducted by Dove shows that 1 in 2 girls who have quit sports have been criticized for their body type, pushed out by pressure to look a certain way.
Fortunately, that tide is beginning to change. More than ever, organizations are making sure girls not only feel like they belong in sports spaces (on the field and off), they’re actually able to experience the same excitement, celebration and joy that made them fall in love with the game in the first place.
Shifting the conversation
For years, Dove has been leading the charge in changing the conversation around body image, particularly when it comes to girls in sports. And as the excitement around the FIFA World Cup 2026™ fades after Spain’s victory to Argentina, Dove is using one of the world’s biggest sporting events to continue doing exactly that.
Enter Joy Cam, a celebration of unapologetic, unfiltered girl joy. Created in partnership with Getty Images, the real-time content platform takes candid images from the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Games and shares them across social media, other digital platforms, and OOH.
As Dr. Rebecca Swift, Global Head of Creative for Getty Images, explains, “Through Dove’s Joy Cam initiative, our photographers were on the ground at the FIFA World Cup 2026™ capturing the joy, confidence, and community that girls experience through sport, creating content designed to extend the campaign’s reach far beyond the event itself,”
This gives the world a front-row seat to the magic that happens when girls are free to play, celebrate, and simply be themselves—and it helps shift the focus away from physical appearance and toward something that actually matters: Girls at the forefront of sports events, their love of the game on full display.
(Also? Can we just say how great it is to see girls’ cheers drowning out the noise of everyone’s judgement, both in real life and on social media? Actually overpowering the thing that keeps them away from the field in the first place?! Symbolism. We love it.)
But beyond capturing moments of joy, there’s a longer-term solution: creating environments where girls feel confident enough to stay in the game. Dove’s Body Confident Sport Program, launched in 2023 and co-developed with leading experts, is an evidence-based program, clinically proven to strengthen body confidence in girls ages 11-17 and reduce appearance-related pressures in sports settings. By equipping coaches, mentors, and caregivers with better tools, they’re able to create spaces where girls are celebrated for what their bodies can do, not how they look.
More cheers, more confidence, healthier girls
Simply put, girls deserve to see themselves at the center of sports, on and off the field. And where Joy Cam helps capture those unforgettable moments of joy, building stronger body confidence helps girls chase those moments for years to come.
“We believe every girl deserves to feel confident enough to keep playing the sports she loves, yet too many leave because of body confidence pressures,” said Marcela Melero, Chief Growth Marketing Officer at Dove. “When girls feel confident, they’re more likely to stay in the game, and that’s what will shape the future of sports.”
Creating a future with more confident, passionate girls on the field also supports FIFA’s goal of getting 60 million female players in sports by the year 2030. But the impact goes far beyond extra time on the field. Girls who continue playing the sports they love have the opportunity to build skills and character qualities that stay with them long after the game ends—things like leadership, resilience, teamwork, self-confidence, and the list goes on. Protecting girls’ joy in sports helps ensure girls grow into stronger athletes and confident young adults (win!).
While the FIFA World Cup 2026™ may be over, the joy that inspired it (the cheers! The celebrations! Hugging it out!) doesn’t have to end. We’ll be following Joy Cam to relive those moments of unfiltered happiness, and inviting everyone to share joy all over the place.
CTA: Your Dove purchase keeps girls in sports. Learn more about the Body Confident Sport program and how to #KeepHerConfident at Dove.com.
