- England Seniors
- England U23s, U20/U19s, U17s, U15s
- National Player Development Centre
- Regional Camps
- FA Centres of Excellence
- Clubs: Affiliated and FA Charter Standard
- Community Coaching (inc. FA Tesco Skills)
- FA School Club Links
- National Curriculum/School Teams and Competitions
1. Football in the curriculum
The FA works closely with schools to develop more opportunities for girls to play within designated PE lessons. In 2002 a Sport England survey showed that only 13 per cent of girls had access to football coaching in PE lessons, yet football is the sport of choice for girls (Youth Sport Trust/Nike study, 2001). 52% of all girls have no experience of ever playing football and 331,000 of girls who currently play ‘kickabout’ football would like to join a football team (FA National Game Strategy Research 2007)
2. Schools’ teams and competitions
Schools’ competitions, leagues and festivals for both primary and secondary aged girls are offered in every County by the Schools’ Football Associations, School Sports Co-ordinators and County FAs. The English Schools FA takes a strategic lead in the development of inter-school football competitions which include girls’ football, providing national competitions for girls from under 11 to under 18. The Independent Schools Girls FA also provides both national smallsided and 11-a-side competitions. Intra-School competitions also provide schools and County FAs with an opportunity to cater for more girls wishing to play regular football in the right environment.
3. Community coaching and The FA Tesco Skills Programme
County FAs, Premier League clubs, Football League clubs and other community organisations employ qualified coaches to introduce girls to the game. The FA Tesco Skills Programme exists to improve the technique, confidence and ball skills of 5-11 year-old boys and girls. This revolutionary approach to coaching skills is truly child-centred, is for all ability levels and focuses on individual children’s learning needs. A team of full-time FA Skills coaches have been recruited and trained to deliver age-appropriate, top-quality football skills in schools, local clubs, football festivals and at FA Skills Centres.
4. FA School-Club Link programme
The FA School-Club Link programme sets out to increase the number of young people playing in FA accredited Charter Standard Clubs. It also aims to develop sustainable relationships between schools and local clubs to provide a clear pathway so young people can continue their football participation.
5. Club football
Primary school-aged girls get their first taste of playing club football with Mini-Soccer. The game is played on small pitches with small goals and can be played by mixed or single gender teams. Once a girl reaches secondary school age she then can progress onto 9v9 or the traditional 11-a-side football. Futsal (a FIFA-developed 5-a-side football format) is also being introduced to girls and women.
6. Centres of Excellence
There are 52 licensed FA Centres of Excellence in operation across England. These Centres provide quality coaching twice a week and a localised fixture programme for talented girls from the age of 8-16. The FA provides a substantial grant per season to each Centre to assist with the running of their programmes.
Each Centre is supported, monitored and evaluated by FA staff.
7. Regional Camps
To further enhance the current talent identification structure, a pool of players are selected at regional level from the FA Centres of Excellence to attend these regional camps. These players are from the U16 and U14 age groups and are given the opportunity to demonstrate the potential to progress onto the international arena.
8. National Player Development Centre
In 2001 The FA launched a National Player Development Centre at Loughborough University. This National Centre takes applications from approximately 20 players per academic year on a fully-funded football scholarship for up to four years. The Centre is managed by FA National coaches and provides coaching from Monday-Friday, alongside the players continuing their education. There has been a huge success rate of players at the Centre representing England from U17 through to Senior level, for example Casey Stoney and Karen Carney.
9. Development teams
Since Hope Powell assumed her position as National Coach in 1998, four England development teams have been introduced.
The U15 side meets for training camps and international friendlies, whilst both the U17 and U19/20 sides compete in European and World Championships. The U23 side was launched in 2004 to bring England into line with the leading nations in women’s football. The first home international was played in November 2006 and achieved a crowd of 5,000 at Exeter City in a friendly international against France.
10. England Women’s Senior Team
The England Women’s Senior Team is ranked 11th in the world. England clinched a quarter final place after their tough World Cup 2007 qualification group, where they were the only team in the championships to take a point off eventual winners Germany. The National Coach is Hope Powell, a former player who amassed 66 caps and scored 35 goals from midfield. Hope hung up her playing boots when she took over as the first full-time manager in June 1998. Hope has received an OBE for her services to the game and was the first female coach to earn the UEFA Pro-Licence – the highest football coaching qualification available.