Sport England supports girl’s football with £2mn fund

Sport England will provide £2million of funding to support a project dedicated to encouraging teenage girls to play football. The funding is part of Sport England’s work to target gender inequalities.

The project called Squad Girls’ Football, launched by the Football Association, focusses on getting more girls aged between 12-14 involved in sport. 

An exciting time for women in sport

Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England chief executive said: “The ongoing noise and excitement around the Women’s Euro is brilliant to see – our continued ambition is to now ensure all women and girls have the right opportunities to play for themselves.

“The upcoming launch of Squad Girls’ Football will play a pivotal role on this front, and by putting teenage girls at the heart of its session planning, we want to empower girls to get active in ways they will love and keep coming back to.”

The project comes off the back of research undertaken by Sport England, which found that girls are less likely to complete the suggested 60 minutes of physical activity a day, which is suggested for teens, outlined by the Chief Medical Officer. The research also found that girls faced barriers such as, lack of confidence, shyness and self-consciousness.

Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston said: “I am proud that we’re hosting a record-breaking Women’s Euros. We want to capitalise on that and do all we can to inspire the next generation to get into football, so I am delighted to support the Squad Girls’ Football Programme.

“This follows up our plans to level up access to sport for all, with £230million being spent to build or upgrade up to 8,000 grassroots football and multi-sport pitches across the UK by 2025.”