In the UK there has been an increase in the number of players, clubs, leagues and competitions since 1993; the number of players has increased from 10,400 to over 150,000 today.
Sport England’s Active People survey in 2008 highlighted that 260,000 women and 1.1 million girls play some form of football in England. There are 26 million females playing across the world, of which 4.1 million are playing affiliated football – this is a 54% growth since the year 2000 (FIFA Big Count 2006).
In Surrey we have over 2200 women and girls playing football, they are involved in mini soccer sides, 11v11 all the way up to adult ladies teams. Many of these clubs run parallel men’s sides but some exist on their own as just a girls clubs with many different age ranges and teams.
In the county we have over 50 teams with female sections and nearly half of these have achieved the Charter Standard Award. At Surrey County FA we are pleased to offer schemes such as female only coaching courses and tournaments with continual advice and support for clubs.
Within the county we are lucky enough to have two centers of excellence at Fulham FC and Chelsea FC giving more talented players a chance to compete at a very high level and develop into elite players, with some going onto represent their country. See link for more details.
For further details on any areas of women’s and girls football please contact Jon Burr on email: Jon.burr@surreyfa.com or Phone: 01372384742