{"id":9633,"date":"2026-03-23T17:34:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/?p=9633"},"modified":"2026-03-23T17:34:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:34:06","slug":"sbj-feature-guillermo-zamarripas-bet-on-womens-soccer-pays-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/sbj-feature-guillermo-zamarripas-bet-on-womens-soccer-pays-off\/","title":{"rendered":"SBJ Feature: Guillermo Zamarripa\u2019s bet on women\u2019s soccer pays off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article originally published on Sports Business Journal here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Irving Mejia-Hilario<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guillermo Zamarripa never reached the World Cup as a player. But the agency he founded now represents more than 200 women\u2019s soccer players across 42 countries \u2014 including Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji, whose $788,000 transfer fee last year became the most expensive deal in the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zamarripa left his hometown of Tampico, Mexico, at age 15 with a vision millions dream about: to play for the Pumas Futbol Club in Mexico City and eventually rock the nation\u2019s colors at the World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was never able to translate my talent onto the field,\u201d he said. \u201cI never really got the traction that I wanted out of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So instead, he shifted his focus to his education. He arrived as a transfer student in 2008 with a short window of two years to improve his English, finish his degree at the New York Institute of Technology and get a job amid the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he was settling into life in New York, friends and acquaintances from his playing days in Mexico reached out to ask if he could help them work through immigration requirements. For a few years, it was a lucrative side business that later prepared him for becoming an agent. Eventually, he ended up with an informal pipeline of 30 players whose lives and careers he was managing. After Mexican national team legend Charlyn Corral, a current client, graduated from Louisville, she wanted Zamarripa to help her transition to the pros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, the women\u2019s soccer representation space was much different, with players earning between $6,000 and $30,000 a year and many having to rely on a second job. Still, in 2014, Zamarripa started TMJ, an agency solely focused on representing women\u2019s soccer players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGuillermo has always been willing to take action in spaces that don\u2019t make immediate financial sense,\u201d said Sara Toussaint, TMJ co-CEO and head of Catalyst, TMJ\u2019s commercial hub. \u201cWhen he started focusing on women\u2019s soccer, you weren\u2019t doing it because the numbers looked great; you were doing it because you believed in the players and the potential of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first eight years, the agency was in the red and funded by Zamarripa from paychecks he earned at his day job at Broadridge Financial Solutions. It wasn\u2019t until 2024 that the agency broke even.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Zamarripa, that long stretch of red ink is exactly why TMJ occupies the position it does now. While most agencies waited until women\u2019s football looked like a safe bet, he was laying groundwork when salaries were tiny, sponsorships were rare and there was little data to suggest the game would explode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen\u2019s football was literally on the ground,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as it evolved over the next decade, it could only go up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, though, he added names like 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup champion Jenni Hermoso; Deyna Castellanos, who was the highest-paid foreign player in the NWSL in 2024 for Bay FC; and Maria Sanchez, who was the NWSL\u2019s highest-paid player in 2023 with the Houston Dash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we would have followed the textbook that says if you\u2019re not in the black after four or five years, you shut it down, TMJ wouldn\u2019t exist,\u201d the 39-year-old Zamarripa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clients like Kundananji are part of a now much larger portfolio that sees the agency manage over $49 million in contracts and has facilitated over 750 commercial brand deals totaling more than $3 million in value for players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zamarripa\u2019s bet on women\u2019s soccer has paid off in a big way. Fort Worth-based TMJ now has more than 200 clients it represents across all areas in multiple continents, from the United States and Mexico to Europe, Colombia and Africa. The agency has 32 employees, including five who are FIFA-licensed agents. Of the staff, 63% are women. Because of Zamarripa\u2019s early jump into the women\u2019s soccer scene, he\u2019s built a loyal client base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m planning on working with him until the day we die, pretty much, because it\u2019s more of a family bond than anything else,\u201d Castellanos said. \u201cI do still think he\u2019s very skillful and very talented, and all that we have done together, I don\u2019t think I could\u2019ve done it with any other person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he never made it as an athlete himself, with the Women\u2019s World Cup drawing closer and domestic leagues like the NWSL and USL finding momentum, Zamarripa believes the work he\u2019s doing is more monumental than any goal he could have scored himself. With TMJ, he\u2019s now a guiding light for the next generation of women\u2019s soccer players looking to achieve the same dream he once had.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With TMJ, he\u2019s now a guiding light for the next generation of women\u2019s soccer players…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2029,"featured_media":9634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"SBJ Feature: Guillermo Zamarripa\u2019s bet on women\u2019s soccer pays off","_seopress_titles_desc":"With TMJ, he\u2019s now a guiding light for the next generation of women\u2019s soccer players...","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[37,154,151,136,66,63,223,92,222,221,31,32,34],"post-template":[],"class_list":["post-9633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-charlyn-corral","tag-deyna-castellano","tag-jenni-hermoso","tag-maria-sanchez","tag-national-womens-soccer-league","tag-nwsl","tag-racheal-kundananji","tag-sara-toussaint","tag-sbj","tag-sports-business-journal","tag-tmj","tag-where-womens-football-rules","tag-womens-football"],"acf":{"hide_featured_image":false,"hide_excerpt":false,"authors_name":"TMJ COMMS"},"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":1,"label":"News"}],"post_tag":[{"value":37,"label":"Charlyn Corral"},{"value":154,"label":"Deyna Castellano"},{"value":151,"label":"Jenni Hermoso"},{"value":136,"label":"Maria Sanchez"},{"value":66,"label":"National Women's Soccer League"},{"value":63,"label":"NWSL"},{"value":223,"label":"Racheal Kundananji"},{"value":92,"label":"Sara Toussaint"},{"value":222,"label":"SBJ"},{"value":221,"label":"Sports Business Journal"},{"value":31,"label":"TMJ"},{"value":32,"label":"Where Womens Football Rules"},{"value":34,"label":"Womens Football"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/SBJ.png",1200,627,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Amy Lopez","author_link":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/author\/amyadmin\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":1,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1,"taxonomy":"category","description":"The latest news on all the ways we are supporting women footballers around the world as we build the future of women\u2019s football.","parent":0,"count":34,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":1,"category_count":34,"category_description":"The latest news on all the ways we are supporting women footballers around the world as we build the future of women\u2019s football.","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":37,"name":"Charlyn Corral","slug":"charlyn-corral","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":37,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":154,"name":"Deyna Castellano","slug":"deyna-castellano","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":154,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":151,"name":"Jenni Hermoso","slug":"jenni-hermoso","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":151,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":136,"name":"Maria Sanchez","slug":"maria-sanchez","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":136,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":66,"name":"National Women's Soccer League","slug":"national-womens-soccer-league","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":66,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":63,"name":"NWSL","slug":"nwsl","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":63,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":12,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":223,"name":"Racheal Kundananji","slug":"racheal-kundananji","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":223,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":92,"name":"Sara Toussaint","slug":"sara-toussaint","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":92,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":222,"name":"SBJ","slug":"sbj","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":222,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":221,"name":"Sports Business Journal","slug":"sports-business-journal","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":221,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":31,"name":"TMJ","slug":"tmj","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":31,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":20,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":32,"name":"Where Womens Football Rules","slug":"where-womens-football-rules","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":32,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":24,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":34,"name":"Womens Football","slug":"womens-football","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":34,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":19,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2029"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9633"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9635,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633\/revisions\/9635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9633"},{"taxonomy":"post-template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wherewomensfootballrules.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-template?post=9633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}