Adidas' Football PM Roberta Stothard on How to Keep Women in Sport
We speak to Stothard about the barriers young girls in the sport face, what changes still need to be made and the inspiration behind this year’s UEFA Women’s EURO kits.
Far more girls drop out of sports during school than boys, it’s a fact and one that directly impacts the amount of women in professional sports. According to Roberta Stothard, adidas‘ product manager in football apparel, there are a few reasons for it.
“From negative perceptions about their own bodies to limited access to their sport beyond school or university — girls see a list of reasons that all support the idea that ‘This isn’t for me anymore,’” she tells us. As part of her role, she leads women’s football initiatives and supports product creation, most recently, the new away jerseys for adidas’ UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 federations.
In terms of the solution, and how to keep momentum going, it’s clear: keep talking about it. “Women’s teams playing in the main club stadium, dedicated apparel and footwear, open conversations around the impact of sport on women’s bodies vs. men’s — these are now mainstream conversations when they wouldn’t have been before. As with so many challenges in women’s sports, keeping them visible and investing in them will elevate the game in ways we’ve not yet seen,” Stothard adds.
We caught up with Stothard to find out more about what it means to be a product manager for football, the inspiration behind this year’s UEFA Women’s EURO jerseys and most importantly: what changes still need to be made for women in to exceed in the sport.
Read on for the full interview.
Tell us a bit about your role and what you currently do at adidas.
I’m a Product Manager and part of a big team that includes designers and developers, and together we focus on the creation of apparel for adidas Football Federations. One of my key tasks is to be the bridge between our brand, athletes, federations, and fans, and I help translate concepts into innovative products — like the football jerseys for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025. The whole product creation process usually starts two years ahead of the tournament where we begin by gathering ideas, followed by defining the stories we want to tell.
We look for authentic stories that connect with the people and the nations because the jerseys have a symbolic importance and often represent the identity of the countries. Once these stories have been defined, we move into the design and sampling phase. At the same time, we start wear-testing the products in collaboration with professional athletes. Throughout this process, we keep improving the products until we have the final and approved version which will be ready for production and marketing.
Most recently, you were a part of creating the new away jerseys for adidas’ UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 — what can you tell us about the design inspiration?
We took our main inspiration from art and the artistic styles of each country to represent their cultural identities. For each nation, we have a special story that we execute through different colors, patterns, and details. For example, Germany was inspired by street art that we find in most German cities like Hamburg, Berlin and Munich and we’ve created patterns in a graffiti style with tones of red and pink.
For Italy, our inspiration was the way nature was represented in Renaissance paintings, so we used various shades of green on a graphic that has beautiful, curved lines that look like vines and branches. A particular favorite of mine is Spain, which is inspired by the revolutionary Cubist movement in the 20th century, which forever changed the way artists wanted to represent their subjects and how they looked at the world. In cubism, a subject is broken apart into many different perspectives, giving the viewer many diverse points of view. We thought that this idea combines perfectly with women’s football, where women are bringing their own way of playing and enjoying the beautiful game. Visually, we translated the idea of cubism using light tones of blues and pinks combined with grey and graphic patterns with geometric shapes.
The last few years have been pretty big for women’s football, with a lot more visibility, support and sponsorship. How do you think the landscape has changed since the start of your career?
Without a doubt, the game has changed for the better, but there’s still a long way to go before we see parity with the men’s game. We’re seeing more female players cross into mainstream culture, which is great, and is something we take seriously at adidas. We feel a responsibility to empower our women players, not just by giving them the best footwear and apparel, but by putting them front and center of our campaigns – for example with Aitana Bonmati and Alessia Russo playing pivotal roles on our recent Predator boot campaign.
What are some of the barriers and challenges that today’s female footballers still face?
The drop-out rate for girls in sports is still incredibly disproportionate when compared to boys, and looking at each of the reasons for that, you’ll find a barrier or challenge that exists for our women athletes. From negative perceptions about their own bodies to limited access to their sport beyond school or university — girls see a list of reasons that all support the idea that ‘This isn’t for me anymore’. Thankfully more women’s professional sports leagues are generating visibility for women in the game, and I’m really excited to see what the next generation feels after growing up with women’s football in such high-profile places.
What changes still need to be made, in your opinion?
When I look at how we have progressed in the last 10-12 years, I would see it as football staying committed to existing initiatives vs. pushing for new changes. Women’s teams playing in the main club stadium, dedicated apparel and footwear, open conversations around the impact of sport on women’s bodies vs. men’s — these are now mainstream conversations when they wouldn’t have been before. As with so many challenges in women’s sports, keeping them visible and investing in them will elevate the game in ways we’ve not yet seen.
What are you most excited about this year in regards to WEURO 2025?
From a professional standpoint, I can’t wait to see the jerseys worn on the world’s biggest stage by our federations and players. There’ll be some iconic all-adidas matchups such as Italy vs Spain and Sweden vs Germany. Seeing these teams take each other on, and seeing the jerseys worn on the pitch for the first time will feel like a real 360 moment and something I’ll feel incredibly proud of. It will also be cool to see how fans style the jerseys. We know there’s a seamless crossover between football and fashion nowadays and I’m excited to see how the jerseys are received, not just on the pitch but on the streets too.
Are there any specific players you’re excited to see on the pitch this year? Who should we be looking out for?
Great question! There’ll be an abundance of talent on show but I’m excited to see back-to-back Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati take to the pitch. She’s won literally everything in her career – FIFA World Cup, domestic league and cup titles, the only thing missing from her trophy cabinet is the Women’s Euros. If she lifts the trophy at the end of the tournament, it’ll be an incredible feat and one which has never been matched.
