Ali Krieger on Using Her Platform 'for Equal Rights and for Female Athletes' (Exclusive)

• Ali Krieger reflects to PEOPLE about the "pretty incredible" support that professional female athletes have been receiving as of late
• The soccer star shares that one of her biggest concerns in sporting equality comes in the form of making sure female athlete merchandise is as accessible as male counterparts' gear
• To Krieger, it's "incredibly important to just see efforts like this be highlighted, and address gender disparities in sports"

To Ali Krieger, it's "pretty incredible" to see the support women's sports have received as of late - but work towards total equality is far from done.

The two-time FIFA Women's World Cup winner and advocate "for equal rights and for female athletes" tells PEOPLE that "to see the change in how we are respected, and valued, and appreciated for just playing a sport that we love" is "what we've desired since the beginning, and that's what all female athletes who played before us have desired."

"I think that it's just incredible to see that movement," Krieger, 39, adds. "and it's going to only continue at a rapid pace, and we all have to be ready to jump on for the ride. Because you're really going to be missing out on the future if you're not a part of it now."

Despite more attention being brought to women's sports as of late, for the athlete, achieving equality extends to the "littlest things" — including making sure fans have access to the gear they want to represent the players they love.

The intersection of those beliefs led retired soccer star to team up with Klarna, TOGETHXR and the Sports Innovation Lab on what she describes as a way to "address gender disparity in sports," starting with bolstering the need for accessible women's athlete merchandise for all.

"This is something that I'm so passionate about and what I want to continue to carry the torch for," Krieger highlights of her advocacy efforts.

On June 26, Klarna released its "Rep Her" campaign, which the company describes as "a multifaceted, research-backed initiative to raise awareness around gender-based gaps in women’s sports merchandise availability" in a press release.

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In tandem with the aforementioned research, Klarna has begun a new initiative to help women’s sports fans find merchandise to represent their favorite teams with ease by curating an innovative women’s sports destination on Klarna.com and on their app for fans to browse items that represent their favorite players.

On top of that, Klarna has also tapped designers Sophia Chang and Mellany Sanchez to design T-shirts and tote bags highlighting the phrase, “A movement, not a moment,” in support of female athlete empowerment. According to the company, a percentage of all proceeds from the collection will go to Billie Jean King’s Women’s Sports Foundation, which also works to advocate for equality in the sports world.

Krieger says it's "incredibly important to just see efforts like this be highlighted, and address gender disparities in sports, like the gap in women's sports merchandise," further noting how female athletes have "been fighting for equal pay for years and gender equality in sports for years."

Additionally, she explains how the accessibility gap between men's and women's sports merchandise has "been huge over my career."

"And I've heard from fans just like, 'Hey, where can we get the jersey? Where can we get that shirt? Where can we get this? Where do we buy that? Even if I purchase it or I reserve it, it takes a year.' And so, it's just having that availability of women's sports merchandise accessible, and having this initiative hopefully also influencing other brands," she adds.

Alongside the three companies, the athlete is looking to take a "pivotal step in recognizing the value of women's sports, and just ensuring that fans have a space where they can get merchandise that they want."

All-in-all Krieger wants fans to know she is trying to "fight alongside these three companies to really change people's perspectives" as well as "give them a space where they can come and feel like they can buy anything that they desire within the sports that they love."