"We continue to fight the good fight."

Ahead of the Women’s Euro in England, we interviewed PUMA athletes Nikita Parris, Ingrid Engen, Fridolina Rolfö and Sara Björk about the sacrifices and challenges of being a female professional football player. In our SHE MOVES US conversations they open up about male standards, diversity and success.

English Football Star Nikita Parris was amazed by the changes that are happening with the respect for female professional athletes: ”I had to challenge male standards not just on the pitch, but off the pitch, inside the training grounds. And there’s been a lot of diversity in the inequality throughout women’s football. But today, because of the pioneers that have come before us, we continue to fight the good fight.”

Being internationally successful in her profession, Swedish National Team Player Fridolina Rolfö also wanted to inspire other female athletes to believe in themselves: “I am moving for the next generation. To be a role model and be someone who can show the young girls and boys that it’s not impossible to be a professional footballer.”

“I’ve had to challenge male standards just by being a football player. I think most people in the world see it as a male sport, but for me it’s the same. We do the same. Everything around should be the same as well. So that’s what we’re fighting for and trying to show the world”, says Norwegian National Team Player Ingrid Engen.

Only four months after giving birth to her son, Icelandic National Team Player Sara Björk Gunnarsdottir returned to the pitch, not only to return to elite level sport, but also to inspire a generation of female athletes to not give up on their dreams. Her main advice is to take “whatever happens in your career and what you go through, as a lesson. Because that’s the only way you can grow. You can move forward. Be confident in your body. If you really want to do both, you can.”