Nike to provide free boots to players after extending WSL sponsorship deal | OneFootball

Nike has extended its Women’s Super League sponsorship deal in an innovative partnership, with the company to provide free boots to all players in the top two divisions who do not have endorsement contracts with other manufacturers.

Sources with knowledge of the deal told the Guardian that approximately 250 players from the WSL and WSL2 have signed up to receive boots from Nike as part of the partnership, with many of them having been forced previously to buy their own match‑day and training footwear as their clubs were not supplying them.

As part of the five-year deal, Nike will also provide gloves to all goalkeepers playing in the top two tiers, and match balls for the WSL, WSL2 and Women’s League Cup. The WSL and Nike, which began supplying balls for all three competitions three years ago, declined to comment.

The players who have registered for boots represent around half the first‑team squad members in the top two divisions, providing a clear insight into the lack of provision previously on offer. Despite the huge growth in women’s football in recent years on the back of England’s two European Championship wins, with the majority of Sarina Wiegman’s squad becoming household names, sponsored boot deals have remained out of reach for many of their teammates.

Goalkeepers, defenders and older players have struggled for endorsement deals, with the boot companies primarily targeting youngsters and goal scorers they judge most likely to generate attention-grabbing social media content, leaving many others spending thousands of pounds each season. The average WSL salary is understood to be just over £50,000 so that is a significant outlay, with many players left relying on senior teammates or agents to call in extra boots from their sponsors.

For several years the Professional Footballers Association had provided assistance with a £300 boot voucher given to each WSL player, although that did not cover those in the second tier as WSL2 players have yet to be granted membership. Nike was already supplying boots to all Chelsea and Tottenham players as a condition of sponsorship deals with those clubs, an arrangement that has now been rolled out to the other 22 clubs.

For a number of big-name players with boot contracts, however, the rewards can be extremely lucrative, and in some cases are worth more than their salaries. Starting at about £5,000 a year and rising to £80,000 for the biggest names at trophy-winning clubs such as Chelsea and Arsenal, some of the bonuses on offer are good, with one leading manufacturer understood to pay £30,000 to clients who win the World Cup and £20,000 for the European Championship.

The WSL returns on Friday with Chelsea, the champions, facing Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal, the European champions, welcome the newly promoted London City Lionesses to the Emirates Stadium, the venue for all their home league games this season, on Saturday, and on the following day the Merseyside derby takes place at Anfield in another sign of the growth of the women’s game.

In other respects, it remains light years behind the men’s game, with the total summer transfer spending of WSL clubs yet to pass £3m ahead of deadline day on Thursday, £1m of which was spent by Arsenal on their record purchase of Olivia Smith from Liverpool. Premier League clubs, in contrast, spent £3.19bn during the transfer window.

Header image: [Photograph: Harriet Lander/Chelsea FC/Getty Images]