From Soccer Fields to Digital Wallets: How Green Fintech Can Bridge Gender Gaps in Rural Sports Development

This review explores the potential of green fintech to reduce the existing gender gap in rural-based sports, primarily soccer. This multidisciplinary narrative review brings together literature on barriers to women's sports participation, digital financial inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Financial limitations, scarce infrastructure, and sociocultural constraints emerge as relevant concerns across these fields. Green fintech offers possible financing and delivery mechanisms, although evidence of its effects on rural women's sports participation remains limited. The study develops a conceptual framework linking stakeholder collaboration, green finance, accessible technology, and coordinated policy. Proposed applications include community finance, public–private partnerships, sponsorship, and NGO-supported initiatives. These applications are analytical propositions rather than evaluated cases or demonstrated outcomes. Regulatory barriers and digital divides may restrict implementation. Future research should test whether specific interventions improve access, sustained participation, and environmental performance in rural sport settings.