Latest news with #UEFAWomen'sEuro
Forbes
15-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
PEBE Utilizing Small Business Program To Revolutionise Sports Bra World
Lucy Horsell (right) with her allocated Women In Football mentor Helen Hardy, founder of Foudys Lucy Horsell, the co-founder of PEBE sports bras, is one of a number of female entrepreneurs utilizing a bespoke Women in Football and Xero Small Business Program - Empower, Mentor, Succeed. Named after the much-used phonetic sound of the acronym for a 'Personal Best', PEBE was founded in 2021 by Horsell together with Charlotte Gill. They now have seven staff and spend much of their time working with county Football Associations, professional sports clubs and visiting schools, running fitting sessions and workshops educating young girls. Their Gravity Sports Bra was ranked number one for overall control of movement in an independent study by the University of Portsmouth, scoring higher than 435 sports bras designed by major global brands despite having only a fraction of their budget. PEBE's mantra of 'driven by science, created by women' is all about ensuring women feel comfortable in their bras, not just when they play sport, but throughout their life to enable them to always perform to the best of their ability and reduce the risk of suffering from health-related conditions later in life. Horsell was at Wembley Stadium last week attending the latest session of a Women In Football and Xero program designed to assist female entrepreneurs with a comprehensive package of support. She explained to me the unique challenges of managing breast movement which studies have found could mean breast tissue bounces 11,000 times during a soccer match. 'We design our bras to look at what we call women's breast bio-mechanics. So how do women's breasts move, when we move? I always use the analogy of imagine how a woman's ponytail swings when a woman runs - that's the momentum which is going through her body. In particular, looking at that natural movement in that figure of '8' is really key for things like ACL-injury risk.' 'We have created a patented contoured layer that deals with the three directions of movement, we have a really strong fabric that anchors the weight properly onto the torso and adjustability that allows for bespoke fit, allowing for varying heights and fluctuations in breast volume. As a result we rank as number one for performance.' When Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal for England at the UEFA Women's Euro in 2022, her iconic celebration put sports bras on every front page in the country. But while most saw the moment as a liberating one for women, Horsell saw it as another instance of a female playing top-level sport without the necessary support to perform at her best. England's striker Chloe Kelly celebrates after scoring her team second goal during the UEFA Women's ... More Euro 2022 final football match between England and Germany at the Wembley stadium, in London, on July 31, 2022. - No use as moving pictures or quasi-video streaming. Photos must therefore be posted with an interval of at least 20 seconds. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) / No use as moving pictures or quasi-video streaming. Photos must therefore be posted with an interval of at least 20 seconds. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) 'I watched that moment,' Horsell told me, 'like everybody in the country and leapt out of my seat with delight, and then quickly retreated back into my seat with my head in my hands thinking 'she is not supported'. It's a really good example of women coming second in terms of kit and ultimately compromising.' 'In that moment, Chloe is not going to be thinking, my boobs are hurting, I'm moving around. She's probably ignoring it a little bit, and focusing on that goal. We now know through scientific research that her breast movement will be impacting her performance and will definitely not be feeling comfortable for her. She's probably shoe-horned herself into a bra that's squished her down, that will be affecting her respiratory capacity, affecting her in loads of ways that she's not going to acknowledge.' In a recent interview, the vice-captain of the Lionesses, Millie Bright admitted she had played for years managing constant pain in her shoulders due to ill-fitting sports bras. Such was her discomfort and her reluctance to speak out, she played throughout the last two major tournaments for England wearing two bras underneath her shirt. Horsell was not surprised having heard those kind of stories from many of the women she has fitted. 'We have had so many examples of women whether military personnel and marathon runners, or those working hard to get and stay active, who have back and neck complaints and the moment you fit them properly you just solve it. If they are wearing something that isn't fitting them right and their breast tissue is being pushed down and they'll round their shoulders into that. They are going to live with natural challenges with their posture.' 'Whether you are running towards a goal or you are sitting at your desk, the positioning of your breast tissue is really important, so is how you breathe. Humans are typically terrible breathers, if women are in a really tight sports bra, their breathing is going to be even worse. If they are in a sports bra that is too big, which is really common, we find that they puff their chests almost to counter for the size of the bra. The result of that is on their whole abdominal engagement. We talk to women about their pelvic floors, we live in a world of wild pelvic floor dysfunction. Anything we can do to help women engage properly internally is such a huge win for them." The Gravity Sports Bra by PEBE Horsell tells me how the PEBE sports bra is different to others currently on the market. 'One of the things that our bras have is this 10cm drop adjustability on the front. What that allows us to do is to fit our bras for different frames. If you look at the Lionesses, for example, even if all those women measure the same bra size, they are all going to wear it completely differently because they have all got different torso lengths and all women have a natural position of their breast tissue on their bodies.' 'If we live in a world where we are just squishing everything down, that's not solving any of those performance challenges. Often brands are very happy to talk about the right sports bra and what it can do but that's one of my biggest frustrations. We know that a well-fitted sports bras can improve stride length, it can improve acceleration by 7%, it can reduce ACL injury risk, and then have an abundance of product that is often untested, and unless well-fitted is not actually solving that problem." 'Unless you are loading that mass properly onto the body and fitting that sports bra for that woman - and being able to adapt it for her fluctuations, so you're not just solving that problem for one day of the month, you're solving it for everyday of the month - then you are not fixing what we know to be the challenge.' The New Zealand-based firm, Xero, has been an official FIFA Women's Football and England Senior Women's team partner since 2022. As a small business management platform they have dedicated much of their sponsorship to supporting not only women in sport but also the small businesses that support them. Emilie Watts, the Head of Senior Brand and Marketing Manager at Xero explained to me how the company's support for the Women In Football and Xero Program came about. 'Xero's purpose is to make life better for small businesses. We saw that there was this opportunity to represent the historically under-served communities and that is definitely women in business and women in football.' 'The partnership with Women In Football was really to establish a mentorship program so we could identify the small businesses and really help them build a community of support around them, put them in touch with each other, because sometimes it can be a really isolating experience being a small business owner. It gives them a bit more of a network to help them along.' The recent annual Women In Football conference allowed Horsell to approach the CEO of a major club to challenge them over their support of their female athletes. As a result, she has organised a fitting session for PEBE with their women's players. Horsell told me 'the team at Women In Football, and the people I've met, have helped me navigate the world of sport, I would have drowned without them. How partnerships work, how to speak people, meeting people like major CEOs - that has come through being in the right rooms with the right people around me.' Horsell has met some of the success stories from the initial cohort of the program in 2024, including Kelly Newton, the founder of Nixi Body who encouraged Horsell to join the course. 'If we stick together, we have a voice, standing alone in our own little silos, we'll drown and the world won't change for women.' To find out more about Women in Football and join our 11,000-strong network click here
Forbes
09-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Tabea Sellner Makes Decision To Retire Aged 28 To Pursue Regular Life
WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - SEPTEMBER 25: Tabea Sellner of Wolfsburg celebrates scoring her team's fifth ... More goal with teammates during the UEFA Women's Champions League 2nd Round 2nd Leg match between Wolfsburg and Fiorentina at AOK-Stadion on September 25, 2024 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by) German international striker, Tabea Sellner (née Waßmuth) has today made the decision to retire from professional soccer this summer at the age of 28. The VfL Wolfsburg forward played 25 times for her country, coming on as a second half substitute in the UEFA Women's Euro final at Wembley Stadium in 2022. Shortly after not being included in the German squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023, she announced that was expecting her first child and would not be available to play for the following season. Sellner gave birth in April 2024 and successfully returned to play for Wolfsburg this season but with her contract due to end this summer, she has made the decision not to pursue her sporting career beyond this season. Speaking to the VfL Wolfsburg website, Sellner admitted that she wanted to put her family first. 'Of course I considered whether I wanted to go abroad again with my family and our little one or gain other experiences. But in the end, that gut feeling stuck.' "I'm very proud of my career and never would have thought I'd get to experience so much. And I think it's great that I was able to make the decision myself. I'm fine; I could have continued – but this feels exactly right. Now I'm looking forward to what life will bring." Sellner recently also completed her doctoral thesis in sport's medicine but said for now she wants to weigh up her future options. 'We want to travel a bit first and not jump straight from one project to the next. It's important to me to have time to process everything and let it sink in." "After that, we want to move closer to home and start our regular professional lives. . . I'm also looking forward to free weekends, to being able to take regular vacations, and to being more flexible.' Sellner joined Wolfsburg from TSG Hoffenheim in 2021 and immediately made her mark, finishing as the second-highest scorer in the Frauen Bundesliga and also the second-highest goalscorer in the UEFA Women's Champions League. Her eight goals in six group stage games remains a competition record, with her performance in the winner-takes-all clash against Chelsea particularly memorable. WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - DECEMBER 16: Tabea Wassmuth of VfL Wolfsburg celebrates after scoring her ... More team's third goal with teammates during the UEFA Women's Champions League group A match between VfL Wolfsburg and Chelsea FC Women at AOK-Stadion on December 16, 2021 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Nico Paetzel/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) 'Nobody expected it to go so well. I never would have thought I would play so much. The game against Chelsea, which we won 4-0, was an absolute highlight. But of course also the game against Barcelona, which was attended by over 91,000 spectators.' Since becoming a mother last year. Sellner has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of mothers in Germany. In a country where breastfeeding in public is not legally protected, Sellner became an ambassador for the 'End discrimination against breastfeeding mothers' petition set up by FemTech brand Elvie. Speaking to Vogue Germany last year, Sellner said that women's clubs need to devise a set of regulations on how to accommodate players who become pregnant. 'In my opinion, it would be important to establish certain procedures for pregnancies, which also exist for other training absences, such as a cruciate ligament tear. A kind of guideline that you can roughly follow.' 25 September 2024, Lower Saxony, Wolfsburg: Soccer, Women: Champions League - Qualification, VfL ... More Wolfsburg - ACF Florence, 2nd qualifying round, 2nd round, second leg, AOK Stadion. Wolfsburg's Tabea Sellner (r) celebrates with Wolfsburg's Sveindis Jonsdottir after her goal to make it 5:0. Photo: Swen Pförtner/dpa (Photo by Swen Pförtner/picture alliance via Getty Images) In her comeback game from maternity leave last September, Sellner made a triumphant return. After coming on as a late substitute, she scored the final goal in a 7-0 Champions League win over ACF Fiorentina but, having been out of the team for 15 months, Sellner has found her opportunities to play have been limited this season. She said "I still find it fascinating what the female body is capable of. It's truly impressive and wonderful to experience that a return to competitive sport after pregnancy is possible with the appropriate support, and so quickly. I'm proud that I was able to return to a top level." "It was never my goal to be a role model in that sense. But of course, I'm happy if I can be a role model for future players who want to become mothers during their careers. That's a very nice thing."
Forbes
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Forbes
Sherida Spitse Becomes Most-Capped European Player In Soccer History
On Tuesday night in Austria, Dutch midfielder Sherida Spitse is set to become the most-capped European player of all time by making her 241st international appearance. If she plays any part during the Netherlands' UEFA Women's Nations League match in Altach, Spitse will move ahead of the previous record holder, Caroline Seger of Sweden, whom she equalled by coming on as a second half substitute in Alemlo on Friday. The most-capped male player of all time is Portugal's 40-year-old captain Cristiano Ronaldo who made his 219th appearance against Denmark last month. The 34-year-old Spitse has entered her 20th year as an international player after making her debut for the Oranjevrouwen as a 16-year-old in 2006. The teenage Spitse made her first appearance at The Valley in London during a 4-0 defeat to England. At the time, there was remarkably no professional women's league in the Netherlands. Spitse was playing with a boys team in her hometown of Sneek. It was not until the following year that the Eredivisie Vrouwen was inaugurated and Spitse was able to sign for her first women's team, SC Heerenveen. Six years later she became the first Dutchwoman in history to command a transfer fee when she signed for LSK Kvinner from FC Twente. In 2017, Spitse lifted the UEFA Women's Euro trophy for her nation on home soil, scoring the decisive third goal in the final against Denmark. A native of Friesland, a northern province of the Netherlands, Spitse once said of her role as captain, "I like to make it a party in the group. That makes the sport more fun for me." In spite of being one of the leading players for her nation, Spitse has never chosen - unlike the overwhelming majority of the players from her country - to play in one of Europe's big five leagues. Apart from two short spells in Norway, she has spent the entirety of her career playing in the Dutch Eredivisie. Now the captain of AFC Ajax, she led the team into the group stage of the UEFA Women's Champions League last season from which they qualified to reach the last eight for the first time. Spitse was voted the Ajax Player of the Season in 2023 and 2024. Spitse became the most-capped Dutch international in history in 2019 when she made her 157th appearance overtaking Annemieke Kiesel-Griffioen. She made her 200th appearance in the country where she made her first, England, ironically suffering another heavy defeat, this time losing 5-1 in Leeds, Spitse had crucially missed a penalty when the scores were tied. Yet, typically on Friday, when a similar opportunity arose on her record-equalling 240th international appearance, Spitse did not shirk it. Despite coming onto the pitch just four minutes earlier, she stepped up to score from the penalty spot, her 46th goal for the Netherlands. After the game she said 'I'm on the list. I'm also the type of person who gives it to someone else, but now I thought: I'll take my responsibility. It's great that the ball goes in.' Spitse's 241st international appearance will move her to joint-eighth on the all-time chart of most-capped soccer players alongside the United States' Joy Fawcett. The top positions are held exclusively by female players from North America. The list is led by the former United States captain Kristine Lilly who earned an incredible 354 caps during a 23-year international career. The recently-retired Canadian great, Christine Sinclair - also the leading international goalscorer of all-time - is second with 331 appearances and the only non-United States player among the top seven.
