Why Nike wouldn't sell Mary Earps' goalkeeper shirt, and why it changed

For most of the 2023 World Cup, England fans could buy a replica shirt for almost every outfield Lioness. They could not buy one for the goalkeeper who ended the tournament with the Golden Glove.

What happened

Nike did not produce Mary Earps’ goalkeeper shirt for public sale during the tournament, even as the rest of the England kit sold well. Earps said so herself, in a social media post that Sky Sports reported directly: she called the decision “hugely disappointing and very hurtful.” A public petition followed, asking Nike to reverse the decision and to take female goalkeepers more seriously generally. It passed 100,000 signatures within Sky Sports’ reporting window and, according to the petition’s own final tally, went on to gather 172,160 signatures in total.

Why people cared

It landed exactly when it was hardest to defend. Earps was the reigning Golden Glove winner and one of the visible faces of the tournament, and the absence of her shirt read less like an oversight than a statement about which players’ merchandise a manufacturer expected to sell. The gap between her performances on the pitch and her availability on a shop shelf was the whole story.

What Nike actually did next

Nike released Earps’ shirt without advance fanfare that autumn. It sold out within hours. Nike also committed to Earps directly that the situation would not be repeated: in a later interview with The Guardian, reported by SPORTbible around the time of her BBC Sports Personality of the Year win, Earps said she had “that commitment from Nike that it will never happen again.”

What remains unclear

Nike has not published a detailed account of the original commercial reasoning that led to the decision, beyond the general suggestion, reported at the time, that goalkeeper shirts were not expected to sell well. Whether that judgement has changed for other, less prominent goalkeepers going forward is not something either side has stated publicly.