Kansas City Current forward Michelle Cooper chose an unusual way to respond to being fined by the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) for wearing her New Balance cleats: advertise them.

Cooper posted the fine notice she received from the league this week after wearing her New Balance Furon Elite V9 cleats during Current’s game against Gotham FC in New York last weekend. Her first Instagram story post showed the league’s letter, via email, to announce she had been fined, then followed it with another linking directly to the white and alkaline green boots. 

“Sooooo shop New Balance (we can have matching cleats),” the United States international wrote. 

With these posts, Cooper becomes the first player to come forward criticizing the league’s new footwear policy. The 23-year-old, who is under contract with the Current through 2028, is among several players caught between the league’s new footwear exposure policy and complying with their existing cleat deals. 

The league’s footwear clause has been around since the NWSL launched in 2013, though it has historically been enforced sparingly. The NWSL began enforcing a long-standing provision connected to its league-wide Nike apparel agreement that limits brand visibility to those who sign deals with the league, The Athletic previously reported. Under the program, footwear companies outside the league’s existing arrangement must enter into an agreement with the NWSL if they want their logos displayed by players. 

The league has sought approximately $100,000 from participating footwear brands, according to people familiar with the program, while requiring those brands to have endorsement agreements worth at least $5,000 with individual players. Adidas and Puma, the two companies with the largest share of non-Nike-sponsored NWSL players, opted into the program this summer. New Balance has not.

The idea, according to the league, is to ensure that both the NWSL and its players benefit commercially when footwear companies receive exposure during league matches. The league has also argued that the program incentivizes brands to sign players to individual endorsement contracts rather than receiving valuable television and social-media exposure for free.

The alternative for players whose footwear companies don’t participate is to cover the logo.

“The player can cover the branding if they’re going to wear unauthorized footwear, which they’re allowed to do. They just can’t promote the brand,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told The Athletic earlier this month when asked about the policy. The commissioner also said the league has instructed club equipment managers on methods for obscuring non-participating brands while allowing players to continue wearing their preferred footwear. 

Cooper is among a handful of players who have existing cleat deals with companies that have not opted in to the policy and has been fined after the league imposed its policy in July multiple times, according to the NWSL Players Association. Her first fine came after scoring a brace against the Denver Summit FC on July 3rd. She was fined $500 for that game, after receiving a warning for wearing her cleats at Challenge Cup against Gotham a week prior. 

Current teammate Kayla Sharples has also received a fine notice related to footwear branding. Chicago Stars forward Jordyn Huitema, who wears New Balance, and Seattle Reign defender Sofia Huerta, who has a deal with Lotto, are among the players who have received fines under the policy, as The Athletic previously reported.

The NWSLPA has challenged the league’s enforcement of the policy and filed grievances on behalf of players who have received fines. Under the collective bargaining agreement, disputed fines cannot simply be deducted from a player’s paycheck while a grievance remains unresolved.

The elite fields for the 2026 New York City marathon have been announced.

American record-holder Conner Mantz set to make his injury comeback in the men’s event, while the women’s field is headlined by Olympic champion Sifan Hassan.

Last year’s men’s winner Benson Kipruto and women’s champion Hellen Obiri will also attempt to retain their respective titles.

The November 1 race will be Mantz’s first over the distance since running 2:04:43 for fourth place in Chicago last October, when he became the first U.S. man to break two hours and five minutes, bettering Khalid Khannouchi’s mark from 2002.

Mantz, 29, was forced to withdraw from the Boston marathon in April because of a sacral stress fracture (at the base of the spine). The Brigham Young University graduate missed out on favourable conditions that led to John Korir breaking the course record with a 2:01:52 run.

“The injuries have definitely changed how I’m heading into this,” Mantz told reporters. “We’re trying to be more cautious. It’s more (about) executing a race (strategy) and staying healthy than it is pushing all these workouts and mileage. The goal is to get to the start line 100 per cent healthy and see what happens.”

Mantz has the ninth-fastest PR of the 42-strong men’s field, which features four more national-record holders and nine other men with sub-2:05 bests. He is vying for a first major marathon podium at his seventh attempt.

In the 31-strong women’s field, versatile distance athlete Hassan, 33, returns having not raced since this marathon last year. The Ethiopian-born Dutch runner is the fourth-fastest marathoner of all-time with a best of 2:13:44, but pulled out of London in April because of an achilles problem.

Hassan won three medals at Paris 2024 (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

“The course was very hard, and the positive part was (that) the crowd was very loud,” she said of her 2:24:43 run for sixth, which left her four minutes off the podium. “Next time I don’t need that much caffeine because it will get more crazy. New York last year really tested me. I pushed so hard and I was really suffering a lot. This year I will prepare better.”

The wheelchair divisions include Swiss athletes Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner, winners of the men’s and women’s races in London this year. Hug, a seven-time Olympic champion, has won in New York seven times, including four of the last five years.

Debrunner, the world-record holder and fastest ever in New York (1:39:32 in 2023), will have to contend with home favourite Tatyana McFadden, the 2025 runner-up and a five-time winner. McFadden holds the quickest PR in the division (1:31:30) and has won 24 major marathons.

The defending champions

The 2025 men’s champion Kipruto, a four-time major winner and ninth on the all-time list (2:02:16), is attempting to become the first man since Geoffrey Mutai in 2013 to claim consecutive New York titles. “I’m coming well prepared for the last kick,” the 35-year-old said, having beaten fellow Kenyan Alexander Mutiso in a photo finish last time.

Kipruto (left) beat Mutiso by only centimeters in the last edition of the race (Ishika Samant/Getty Images)

Women’s champion Obiri, meanwhile debuted in New York in 2022 and is a two-time winner, including last year when she broke the course record (2:19:51). The Kenyan, 36, ran her personal best in London in April (2:15:53s), losing out to Tigst Assefa, who beat her in a sprint finish to set a women’s-only world-record.

“I am happy because New York has been like my home, I know everything about the course,” Obiri said. She added that her training is closely replicating the elevation profile of the course, with its hills.

Ones to watch

U.S. runner Zouhair Talbi  will also race in New York. It will be his second marathon of the year after a fifth-place run in Boston. His 2:03:45 Boston time stands as the fastest by a U.S. man in all conditions (Boston is not record-eligible because of its elevation profile and point-to-point course).

He will be joined by Great Britain’s Patrick Dever, who came fourth last year on his marathon debut, and was upgraded to the podium when Kenya’s Albert Korir subsequently tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

European 10,000m gold medallist Andreas Almgren is also one to watch, having broken a championship record which had stood since 1978 this month. He holds the European half-marathon record (58:41 in Valencia).

Jess McClain is the leading American woman among the field. The Stanford graduate, 34, holds a PR of 2:20:49. She made her major marathon debut at New York in 2024, and said: “I was just overwhelmed by the greatness and didn’t really know what my ceiling was.”

Having finished fifth at Boston as the top U.S. athlete, McClain says she’s “thinking bigger than that. How can I get on the podium?”

The wildcard in the women’s field is Weini Kelati, 29, who is making her marathon debut. “This is the right moment and the right place to do it,” the Eritrean-born American said, stepping up following a track career which included a national 10,000m title at the 2024 Olympic trials, and an eighth-place finish at the Games in Paris. Kelati broke the U.S. half marathon record in Barcelona this February, running 1:06:04 for second place.