Sport England awarded National Lottery funding to help increase number of adult women playing football

The £1m investment will support the development of local plans within the proposed Euro 2022 host cities, which includes London
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Sport England has awarded £1million of National Lottery funding to England’s hosting of the Uefa European Women’s Championship in 2022.

The public body has taken the decision in the hope it can increase the number of adult women playing football in England.

The £1m investment will support the development of local plans within the proposed Euro 2022 host cities, which includes London.

Eight Host City Legacy Groups have been established with key partners from football, local authorities, active partnerships, education, public Health and culture coming together to work towards a common a legacy plan for the tournament.

Each of these groups will be awarded approximately £100,000 and the plan is for them to make recreational women’s football accessible in the host cities.

Sport England’s Euro 2022 project aims to capitalise on the proven impact of major events on grassroots interest in the game, with research undertaken during and after the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2019 revealing significant rises in women playing following the tournament.

The Uefa Women’s Euros were initially due to be played in summer 2021, however following the Covid-19 pandemic the tournament was rescheduled and will now take place from 6-31 July 2022.

Phil Smith, Sport England Director of Sport, said: “Euro 22 will be a significant and exciting event, and we are delighted to be working with The FA to use it to grow the women’s game.

“We believe a ‘place-based approach’ – working with local stakeholders to develop a recreational football programme for the right place, at the right time - can be instrumental in making this happen and ultimately developing women’s and girls’ football in England.

“We know from data collected during the 2019 Women’s World Cup that there was a significant increase in the number of women playing football both during and after the tournament.

“For Euro 22 Sport England and The FA are trying to get ahead of the game. We know the Tournament will excite the fans and the public, so we want to use that excitement to support even more women and girls to start playing.”

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