Nike commits to grow women’s football

Sportswear giant Nike has reinforced its commitment to women’s football
by signing a three-year deal that will see it become official partner of
UEFA Women’s Football and the match ball supplier for UEFA Women’s
competitions, including the Women’s Champions League and the Women’s Euro
2021.

To celebrate the partnership Nike brought together more than 28 of the
world’s top female footballers to unveil 14 national team collections for
this summer’s tournament in France, which Nike states showcases
“future-forward women’s innovation”.

Nike said that the national team kits began with gathering detailed
input on fit from professional footballers, followed by 4D scanning and
motion capture in the Nike Sports Research Lab, and this has led to the
kits focusing on “women’s-specific precision engineering” with its
high-performance bra collection at the heart of Nike’s spring/summer 2019
collection.

As well as being innovative, the 2019 football kits are also constructed
from at least 12 recycled plastic bottles, as part of Nike’s continued
strategy to become the most sustainable sports brand. Since 2010, Nike has
diverted more than 6 billion plastic bottles from landfills through
sustainable product design.

“We believe this summer can be another turning point for the growth of
women’s football,” said Nike, Inc. chairman, president and chief executive,
Mark Parker in a statement. “And our bigger ambition is for that energy and
participation to extend into all sports. Nike’s commitment is to continue
our leading support of competitive athletes, invest in the next generation
at the grassroots level and deliver more innovative and compelling product
design for women.”

Image: courtesy of Nike