Thousands of women and girls across England are set to benefit from a substantial £30 million cash injection from the Government and The Football Association (FA) to turbocharge the development opportunities for the next generation of Lionesses.
Ahead of England’s crucial UEFA Women’s Nations League match against the Netherlands at Wembley on Friday 1st December, Lucy Frazer the Secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport met and made a special announcement to the Lionesses in support following their UEFA EURO 2022 and FIFA World Cup 2023 success. She attended in person following Tuesday’s training session at St George’s Park.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has said:
“The Lionesses display incredible talent and have achieved highly prized success. Their Euros victory gripped the nation, their success getting through to the World Cup final lifted the national mood.
“During the World Cup I said that we would do everything possible to support women and girls’ football so we can watch our Lionesses roar on the world stage for generations to come. Today, along with The FA, I am launching a £30 million fund to make sure the next generation of girls have equal opportunities to get into sport.
“Building on our unprecedented support for grassroots facilities, this is just the latest move in our commitment to invest in women and girls’ grassroots sport facilities, and ensure the squad’s legacy lives long into the future.”
After the Lionesses’ success in UEFA EURO 2022 and the journey to the final of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, this £30 million fund will deliver approximately 30 new state of the art 3G pitches. And all in areas supporting women’s and girls’ teams across England. This comes after the governments drive to get 2.5 million more adults and 1 million more young people active by 2030.
It aims to prioritise women’s and girl’s teams with reserved peak-time slots and female only evenings. With priority booking for female teams at each of the new pitches. This is to ensure support for the demand to play. These facilities will have dedicated female changing rooms, shower facilities and accessible toilets.
With the Government proving £25 million funding and the FA contributing £5 million. This will continue to impact the Lionesses and Government’s shared target. Of inspiring more females to get into sport and exercise. The government recently published a new strategy which you can read here. Get Active: a strategy for the future of sport and physical activity
Honouring the Lionesses after EURO 2022 success.
After the EURO 2022 victory, the Government, Premier League and The FA announced they would be honouring the Lionesses. By naming 23 grassroots facilities, run by the Football Foundation, across the country after the 23-player squad.
Former Lionesses Jill Scott (Newcastle) and current squad members Ella Toone (Wigan) and Rachel Daly (Harrogate) have already had sites named in their honour. Further details of the Lionesses renaming programming can be found here. Facilities in places that shaped Lionesses’ footballing careers to be named in their honour
England’s FIFA World Cup 2023 Captain Millie Bright said:
“We’re proud to have been able to give the nation a lot to cheer in the last 18 months through what we’ve achieved on the pitch but we’ve been clear we want to drive change off the pitch too.
“One of our collective biggest motivations and core values is for females across the country to have equal opportunity. We are really pleased to see the commitment towards this funding and the promise that this will be prioritised for the growth of women’s and girls’ football so whatever the motivation to play, there is a safe and accessible area for females to go to.”
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