WSL players paying up to £4,000-a-year on boots and kit

Ahead of a summer in which England’s defence of their European Championship title will thrill a nation glued to the television, and before a breakthrough season in which all clubs in England’s top two divisions will be fully professional for the first time, The Observer has learned that many players in the Women’s Super League are buying their own boots.

Multiple sources at several clubs have disclosed that a sponsored boot deal in the WSL remains the exception rather than the rule, leaving some players spending up to £4,000 a year on boots and other kit – a significant proportion of their wages in a league where the average salary is £45,000.

“My daughter needs two pairs of boots every couple of months, and they can cost £300,” the parent of an academy player at a WSL club said. “It’s very expensive and we were spending thousands of pounds on basic kit until her agent offered to help out.”

Chelsea and Tottenham ensure all their first team are supplied with playing and training boots through their sponsorship deals with Nike, but other clubs do not, leaving those without boot contracts facing expensive bills or looking for handouts. An agent who represents 30 players said only 10 of them had boot contracts, with the vast majority of those attacking players, as they are deemed more likely to provide memorable images and social media content to promote the manufacturer’s brand. “The boot companies are only interested in players at big clubs, who have a chance of winning trophies and playing at senior international tournaments,” they said.

“And beyond that they only really want attacking players. They all want ‘a Chloe Kelly moment’, that iconic image of Chloe ripping her shirt off in celebration [after scoring England’s winner in the 2021 European Championship final against Germany] and revealing a Nike sports bra. That was the ultimate in branding.

“Defenders and centre-backs in particular really struggle, as they don’t tend to produce that kind of content for the manufacturers. I know of first-team regulars at WSL clubs who don’t have a boot contract.” Players without contracts are sometimes offered so-called “seeding deals”, in which manufacturers supply boots as a goodwill gesture, but many are left relying on senior team-mates or agents to call in favours.

“Clubs don’t generally provide boots and they should do more,” another agent said. “As an agency we earn more from some players than others so are happy to help out by buying boots and other kit if necessary.  “And some of the brands we do work with might help out, if they want to work with our other clients. But not every player is with a large agency that represents England Lionesses, which gives us clout.”

The lack of specialist support from boot manufacturers for most players presents other problems, which are just emerging. A FIFA-commissioned study conducted at Kingston University published in April found that female players are between two and six times more likely than their male counterparts to suffer anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] injuries, with wearing unsuitable footwear throughout their careers cited as a causal factor.

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) have subsequently launched their own three-year study into ACL injury prevention at Leeds Beckett University, which is being part-funded by Nike, but concerns remain.

“There’s still a culture of players being grateful for what they’re given and that definitely applies to boots,” a PFA source said. “There’s little in the way of bespoke fitting, and players with very wide feet or high arches really struggle. The manufacturers just send generic boots.”

The PFA do provide some support themselves, giving each WSL player a £300 voucher for boots each season.

For a handful of A-list players with boot contracts, however, the rewards can be extremely lucrative, and in some cases are worth more than their salaries. Starting at around £5,000 a year and rising to £80,000 for household names at trophy-winning clubs such as Chelsea and Arsenal, some of the bonuses on offer are spectacular.

In a reflection of the focus of many brands on individual achievement and moments ahead of team success, Nike offers a bonus of £100,000 for clients who win the Ballon d’Or, far more than the prize for team honours. Nike’s World Cup winners are rewarded with a bonus of £30,000, with £20,000 for the Champions League and European Championship, and £10,000 for winning the WSL.

Such apparent largesse contrasts with many clubs’ parsimony in leaving players to source their own kit, although there is sympathy for their position in some quarters, as the majority of clubs still record losses every season. As a source at one WSL club said: “There are 25 players in each age-group squad so providing them all with multiple pairs of boots would quickly become very expensive. We still have to account for every penny.”

Photograph by VisionHaus