BookTok Hit Cleat Cute , A Sapphic Rivals-to-Lovers Novel, Is Coming to TV

Raven B. Varona / Olga Grlic and Illustrated by Petra Braun

It’s been one hell of a week for sapphic enemies-to-lovers enjoyers. First Killing Eve came to Netflix, and now real-life pro athlete power couple Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird are bringing a beloved soccer romance novel to the small screen.

Variety announced on Wednesday that the couple’s production banner, A Touch More, will be developing Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner into a series. Described as “a sapphic rivals to lovers rom com,” the BookTok fave follows Grace Henderson, a star soccer player on the U.S. Women’s National Team, and her complicated relationship with Phoebe Matthews, a new player who steals her thunder. Henderson is Matthews’ “longtime idol,” making the dynamic between the two players even juicier.

“22-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t ― a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way,” the book’s official description says. “The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.”

In a statement to Variety, Bird and Rapinoe said, “Having spent most of our lives on teams, we want to celebrate the ways in which relationships, both romantic and platonic, are organically created through sports.”

“Cleat Cute will not shy away from the messiness, occasional frustration, and undeniable beauty that come with loving the game and the players within it,” they added.

Cleat Cute author Wilsner had a decidedly less measured response, posting the Variety article to X with “I’m probably supposed to be more professional about this but LFGGGGG,” adding a soccer ball emoji, a rainbow flag emoji, and a camera emoji. (I mean, if I wrote a USWNT-inspired romance novel and then that team’s gay icon decided to make that into a TV show, you would never hear the end of it from me.)

It seems as though Cleat Cute couldn’t be in better hands, and now we eagerly await the actually horny Bend it Like Beckham of our dreams.

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Originally Appeared on them.