As one of the most decorated players in the history of women’s soccer (!), a two-time World Cup champ (!!), and an Olympian (!!!), Ali Krieger has a lot of fans (and nearly a million followers on Insta, for reference). Since Ali started playing professionally in the 2000s, adoring spectators pulled up to her games with a desire to continue showing their support outside the stadium by rocking her team’s jerseys. But when they went searching for merch, they were often left empty-handed. This led supporters to ask Ali and her teammates about merchandise availability more directly, despite it being largely out of their control as players. While Ali retired from playing professionally at the end of 2023, she is still connected to her community in the soccer sphere—and now she’s putting in the work to make sure fans have women’s sports merch.
Ali has teamed up with Klarna, TOGETHXR, and the Sports Innovation Lab to launch the Rep Her initiative, which spreads awareness about gender disparity in women’s sports merchandise availability through a new data report. The brands also dropped a super-cute limited-edition merch collection that celebrates “a movement, not a moment,” and a percentage of all proceeds will go to Billie Jean King’s Women's Sports Foundation.
Ali caught up with Cosmopolitan to chat all about the initiative, her hopes for the future of women’s soccer ahead of the 2024 Olympics, and, yes, what she thought about those “Ali Krieger Fan Club” shirts that her Gotham teammates wore ahead of their 2023 NWSL Championship win.
Women’s soccer has gained even more traction over the years, drawing in larger crowds and moving to bigger streaming platforms. When did you feel this shift? How does it feel from the perspective of someone on the field?
It’s just incredible to see how now, the participating players are being valued, appreciated, and respected for what we’ve been doing for a very long time. It has a lot to do with the players because we’re powerful in numbers and have stuck together through the past 12 seasons to get this league to where it should be.
Have we been fighting for equal pay for the past 10, 11 years? Yeah, we have. We’re also seeing the product on the field and the quality it’s carrying on through younger players in the national team and foreign players who come to play for the NWSL. Broadcasting companies are also seeing the value, which makes us more visible because you’re watching the games more often on TV during prime time. It’s just accessible and available. And now, Klarna, TOGETHXR, and the Sports Innovation Lab—these really powerful brands and companies—are getting behind women. This is what we’ve needed for so long. I think that’s been the biggest change.
Speaking of that change, there was a significant difference between the National Women’s Soccer League and the U.S. Women’s National Team games. You’d go from playing for a sold-out crowd to playing in a less-filled stadium—did this affect your gameplay or mindset at all?
No, it doesn’t affect the actual game—you’re here to do a job, you’re here to do it well, and you’re here to win. It’s somewhat of a business in that way. Is it unfortunate when you walk out into a stadium and it’s empty? Yeah. It’s hard to motivate yourself when you feel like no one cares or supports you, because we deserve a filled stadium and people here cheering for us as a 12th man. The crowd should value the game and be as passionate as we are. On the other hand, you’re there because you want to be there, play at the highest level, perform, and win. No matter who is in the stands, you’ll always show up and do that. You just hope people start to come through and recognize—and they have.
Right. And even though the sport’s popularity is at an all-time high, there still isn’t enough merchandise available to fans. When did you recognize that women’s team merch wasn’t as widely accessible?
This has been an issue since day one. Our focus as female athletes was finding a proper field to play on, getting lunch after training, getting proper socks to wear, and ensuring we had space to have a locker room. At the very beginning, that’s what we were fighting for—to play on a good enough surface to perform our best. Then we’d always hear fans say, “Well, where can I get your jersey? Where can I get a sweatshirt like that? Where do they have the Pride gear?” Anything that they wanted, they weren’t able to get. They asked us to talk to the club to ensure that merchandise was available.
The general disparity between men’s and women’s sports has been apparent throughout my career. There are examples of us fighting for equal pay at the soccer level, and then you could see NCAA women’s basketball players fighting for equal facilities. The merchandise availability for fans is just nonexistent. Joining forces with Klarna, TOGETHXR, and the Sports Innovation Lab to start this important conversation and bridge that gap is what we’ve needed because this is such a huge opportunity for our fans and supporters to get what they’ve wanted for so long.
Klarna and the Sports Innovation Lab published research that shows for every nine pieces of men’s sports merch, women’s sports only have one. This is one of the many gender-based disparities between men’s and women’s sports. What can industry leaders do better to create more gender parity both on and off the field?
People need to support women and teams in their cities to help make them visible. When you have the Rep Her initiative and a space to buy merch, then you’re supporting women’s sports, in general. When you wear it around, people who don’t even realize there’s a women’s sports team in their city can see that. Support women, support the teams, support the federations and organizations that we play for, and use your platforms to get your friends and family to go to a game. If you go to a women’s sports game, no matter what sport it is, I guarantee you’ll have the best time. You’ll continue to come back, you just have to get people there for the first time.
More generally, what steps would you like to see taken so the future is even brighter for girls in soccer?
It involves putting the right people in powerful positions and creating safe healthy environments for young athletes to grow, succeed, and thrive. Coaches have a direct impact on our youth, not only in teaching the game but also in molding young athletes to become good players at such a young age. Club players can also connect with the community and create a space where we’re involved, helping young athletes and the leaders who have an impact on these players.
Community seems to be a big part of your life, although you’ve stopped playing professionally. You’ve found other ways to still be involved in the soccer sphere. How did you find your footing and explore other avenues after retiring?
Connection is really important to me because the team needed that support from our fans. We needed people to continue to come back and watch us, and we needed the money, the sponsorships, all the things. That went hand in hand with having good conversations because at the end of the day, we’re human, right? Football is what I do; it’s not who I am. I share a true passion with individuals who love the game as much as I do, and it’s nice to hear stories about why they love the team or specific players.
It’s important for us as women and professional athletes—even former professional athletes—to continue those conversations and use our platform to fight for these issues. If we all do our part like a puzzle piece, then we’ll all come together and tackle all of this. We all believe in fighting for women, putting us on the map, and supporting something bigger than ourselves.
Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and a bunch of fans wore the “Ali Krieger Fan Club” T-shirt during your final Gotham games. What was it like to see this support from your peers and the public as you were ushering in a new era?
I wasn’t aware that the shirt was going to be that. They surprised me with it, and I absolutely loved it. I was so grateful for that support, which was all around the world too. I recognized at that moment that I had impacted so many more people outside of my small space in my small city. That gave me a lot of confidence and joy, knowing that I can continue to do what I’m doing because it impacts people in their own lives and whatever they’re going through. It was all positive—I was thinking about maybe doing something more with the club since the shirts turned out to be such a good thing. Why not continue to do it with more merch?
Parts of this interview have been edited and condensed for clarity.
The Klarna x TOGETHXR Rep Her collection is available now.
Shop the Rep Her merch collection at Klarna Shop the Rep Her merch collection at TOGETHXR
