The Female Fields initiative and the world’s first football pitch to have a gender sparked a movement across the UAE and has already won awards for promoting gender equality in sports – including a Grand Prix in the Glass category at the Dubai Lynx. This is its story:

In the Arab world, many young Arab girls from conventional families grow up believing that sports are not for them. This belief stems from the notion in traditional Middle Eastern society that sports are more suitable for boys and men. Sadly, this mindset has led to a startling statistic: an average of 73% of young Arab girls give up playing sports by the age of 14.

To challenge this status quo and raise awareness about the transformative impact of sports on women and girls, adidas has pioneered the world’s first Female Field. The concept stems from a fundamental insight: in the Arabic language, most words associated with sports are female in gender. For instance, words like “ball,” “run,” “kick,” “jump,” “goal,” “shoot,” “pass,” and even the word “sport” itself are all considered feminine due to the ending letter, called the Ta’Marbuta. This letter, written as a circle with two dots on top, imparts feminine gender to Arabic words.

Using inspiration from this linguistic feature, adidas incorporated the Ta’Marbuta into the design of a football pitch. Just as this letter gives gender to words, it gave gender to the pitch, making it distinctly female. By adding two dots above the center circle, traditionally found on playing fields, adidas created a visible reminder that women belong in the world of sports just as much as men, sparking conversations about the importance of supporting women in sports. The idea emphasises representation and encourages society to see things from a female perspective.

The Female Field initiative was launched in collaboration with Onyx FC, the UAE’s first and only owned and operated football team, as part of its inclusion in the adidas family. The goal of the partnership is to embody the team’s ethos – empowering girls to pursue their sports dreams and giving them the confidence to step onto the field.

Soon, countless replicas popped up across Dubai, not just on football fields, but basketball courts, beach football pitches, even Ice Hockey rinks were among the many being turned into Female Fields.