Nike and WSL Agree Landmark 5-Year Deal Supplying Boots and Gloves as Minimum Salaries Introduced

The WSL has confirmed a new multi-year partnership with Nike. As part of the deal, Nike will supply football boots and goalkeeper gloves to every player in WSL and WSL2 who is not currently signed to a personal sponsorship.

According to the Guardian, around 260 players across the WSL and Championship have been fined to receive boots from Nike through the new partnership.

This deal will last for five years. Three years ago, the same brand supplied balls for all three competitions: the WSL, WSL 2 (championship), and the Women’s League Cup.

The players registered for boots represent about half the first-team squad members in the top two divisions.

Nike was already supplying boots to all Chelsea and Tottenham players as a condition of sponsorship deals with those clubs, which has now been rolled out to the other 22 clubs.

In the past, many of those players had to buy their own match-day and training footwear, as their clubs did not supply it.

For several years, the Professional Footballers Association assisted with a £300 boot voucher to each WSL player. However, that did not cover those in the second tier, as WSL2 has yet to be granted membership.

However, for several big-name players with boot contracts, the rewards can be highly lucrative and, in some cases, worth more than their salaries. Some of the bonuses are good starting at about £5,000 a year and rising to £80,000 for the most prominent names at trophy-winning clubs such as Chelsea and Arsenal. One leading manufacturer is understood to pay £30,000 to clients who win the World Cup and £20,000 for the European Championship.

That's not all that is coming this season; it is the introduction of minimum salaries for players across England's top two divisions of professional women’s football. The change is part of new rules set by WSL Football which manages the league.

Pay levels will take into account a player’s age, the division they play in, and their experience with the framework developed in consultation with the Professional Footballers Association PFA.