Female Australia women’s football fans will finally be able to buy the team’s new away kit by next year, after women’s sizes for the kit were completely ommited during the kit’s launch last week.
The Football Federation of Australia (FFA) was forced to apologise when fans of the national team, and all over Twitter, spotted that while the home kit was fine as it was, the new Nike Matildas’ away shirt was only being sold in men’s sizes and wouldn’t be on the market for female fans until 2022.
As soon as everyone saw it, the backlash to the FFA was bigger than ever, specially after just two months of Australia was selected with New Zealand as joint hosts for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. That’s why now the FFA and Nike are working on rectifying the problem, intending to speed up production to make the kit available from 2021 for women’s sizes.
“FFA, together with Nike, have listened to fans and consumers and as a result the away kit will be available for purchase early in the new year,” an FFA release said, “Women’s football and gender equality is a fundamental strategic pillar for FFA. Principle X of the XI Principles for the future of Australian football demonstrates our renewed commitment to women’s football and places it at the heart of the continued growth and development of Australian football.
“The initial unavailability of 2020 national teams away kits in a women’s silhouette was not consistent with the values in which FFA seeks to uphold and promote. FFA acknowledges this, and will place added emphasis on ensuring that future processes are aligned with the organisation’s broader vision and mission for the sport.”
Additionally, Nike also released a short statement confirming the news, saying it was “committed to women’s football and serving our female athletes and consumers.” So, for now, Matildas’ replica shirts can be expected to be big sellers in the run-up to Australia and New Zealand co-hosting the next Women’s World Cup in 2023.
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