RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina Courage player is using her platform and sponsorship to advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in sports.

What You Need To Know

  • Brianna Pinto is the first person to work her way up through the youth to pro system for North Carolina Football Club (NCFC)

  • Black Players for Change (BPC) and Black Women’s Player Collective (BWPC) are two independent organizations working to change the inequity in the game of soccer

  • The Mini-Pitch series plans to install 10 more mini-pitches across the country by the end of 2023  

Brianna Pinto is graduating from UNC Chapel Hill this December from the Flanagan School of Business, but she’s not your average student. She is also a professional soccer player.

In 2021, she was drafted third overall to Gotham FC. That same year, she also signed an endorsement contract with Adidas. 

“I love everything that Adidas stands for,” Pinto said. 

Adidas, in partnership with the U.S. Soccer Foundation, Musco Lighting and Soccer.com, have put on a mini-pitch series in honor of BPC and BWPC. Pinto is one of the soccer players that helped put the event on, and even helped to bring a mini-pitch to her hometown of Durham, N.C. at Hillside High School.

“I know a lot of those kids have aspirations to play collegiately. And when you see those role models and see that representation, you start to believe that you can become it," Pinto said. "And I had that growing up, so I wanted to make sure that I did my part in giving back.”

Helping to bring more opportunity to younger kids is important to Pinto, and she feels focusing on the youth for equity and change will help benefit the game of soccer most. 

“I just think it's really important to invest in our youth because for me, I believe and I don’t mind this, the devil’s workshop and the beauty about sport is that it allows kids to set goals, chase them and then develop really incredible friendships along the way,” Pinto said. 

Pinto has been a huge part of soccer in the United States all her life, playing on the youth national teams and winning a seat on the United States Soccer Federation’s 20 person athlete’s council.

She was part of a group that called themselves Next Gen United that ran with the goal of diversifying the federation’s leadership in age and culture. 

To learn more about Pinto’s mission, check out her website.

Clarification: This article has been updated to reflect Musco Lighting is assisting in putting on a mini-pitch series.