Borussia Dortmund and PRIME confirm partnership

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Image via Borussia Dortmund website

Borussia Dortmund confirm PRIME hydration as the club’s official hydration partner in a bid to improve the club’s standing in North America.

Since its inception in 2022, PRIME Hydration is a sports drink alternative that has disrupted norms and completely blown up into the mainstream. Led by popular influencers KSI and Logan Paul, the brand has huge appeal in the US and now are expanding abroad.

In football, PRIME currently has deals with the biggest clubs in the world including Barcelona, Arsenal and Bayern Munich with a clear indication that PRIME are solely focused on attracting European consumers.

On social media, Dortmund’s fan base comprises more than 53 million people and the club have the highest average stadium attendance in world football. PRIME’s innovative hydration solutions and brand will be exposed worldwide to football fans.

Carsten Cramer, Chief Marketing Officer of BVB explained the move to target that huge US market through PRIME.

“BVB is very excited and proud that two ambitious brands have joined forces. PRIME is an upcoming brand with popular products, especially for younger people – a significant target audience for BVB to manifest its continuous growth,” Cramer said in a club statement.

“Therefore, we’re convinced that both brands will benefit tremendously through this partnership. BVB on the one hand will help Prime to conquer the German market and beyond whereas Prime will further elevate BVB’s brand especially in the US, its home market.”

PRIME co-founders KSI and Logan Paul expressed their excitement on adding another club to their portfolio.

“Witnessing the exponential growth of PRIME has been truly remarkable, and none of it would be possible without visionary partners like Borussia Dortmund. We are thrilled to align with such a prestigious and successful sports club, and we eagerly anticipate creating unforgettable moments with the club and for fans.” they said in a statement.

Borussia Dortmund also recently opened a New York office to further boost the brand’s presence in the North American continent.

This move isn’t as straightforward as other big leagues have made expansion look because of the German football fan culture.

Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke suggested that despite the German football fans’ opposition to outside investors, they wouldn’t be against expansion or new sources of revenue.

This deal with PRIME is a strategic long-term move by Borussia Dortmund to crack into the top clubs in world football on revenue and brand exposure by targeting an underutilised big market in the United States on the eve of a groundbreaking host 2026 World Cup.

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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

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Image credit: FiledIMAGE / Shutterstock.com

Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

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