Women’s Euros can be ‘ catalyst for growth’

THE Football Association has unveiled a new four- year strategy for the women’s game, with England winning a major tournament among the targets.

The Lionesses will host the European Championships that have been rescheduled for 2022, and the following summer the World Cup is set to take place in Australia and New Zealand.

The team were beaten semifinalists in the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and also Euro 2017.

The FA’s ‘ Inspiring Positive Change’ strategy, which it says “pledges to create a sustainable future for women’s and girls’ football in England”, has eight “transformational” objectives to be achieved by 2024.

As well as the trophy target for England, the objectives include every primary school- aged girl to have equal access to football in school and in clubs, collaboration with clubs to develop an “effective high- performance, inclusive player- centred pathway”, and creating “the best professional women’s sports leagues and competitions in the world.”

Another pledge is to “recruit and support a motivated, diverse range of local leaders organising football for their communities.”

The FA said the home Euros will be “a catalyst for growth across every area.”

Baroness Sue Campbell, the FA’s director of women’s football, said: “Our new four- year strategy is based on understanding an individual’s motivation to play – for learning, for recreation, for competition and for excellence.”

England captain and former Leeds player Steph Houghton said: “When I and many of my teammates were girls, opportunities to play were few and far between, so to see the breadth and scale of the FA’s ambitions in the next four years isextremelyexciting.”