England star Lucy Bronze welcomes £30m pledge to boost women’s and girls’ football teams with 30 state-of-the-art 3G pitches and new female-only facilities

The Lionesses have secured another victory with the Government and the Football Association pledging to invest £30million into developing opportunities for women and girls in football.

England’s triumph at Euro 2022 and their participation in this summer’s World Cup final will be recognised with the Government committing to building 30 new state-of-the-art 3G pitches and accompanying facilities which will prioritise women’s and girls’ teams.

The Government is providing £25 million of the funding, with the FA contributing a further £5 million.

The pitches and facilities will be delivered by the Government, the Premier League, and The Football Foundation. Reserved peak-time slots, women and girls only evenings and priority booking for women’s and girls’ teams will be introduced at every one of these sites to drive up participation and support the demand to play, whatever the motivation.

The facilities will also provide dedicated female changing rooms, shower facilities and accessible toilets.

‘It’s nice to know that people believe in us just as much as we believe in ourselves,’ England defender Lucy Bronze said of the funding.

‘The fact that the government wants to invest so much money because they see the difference that we’ve made not just as a team on the pitch, but what a difference it made to women all around the country, and now to be able to give more women and girls that access to live out a dream that we live out in whatever shape or form that looks like.’

Earlier this year the Government pledged to offer girls equal access to football and school sport following an open letter from the Euros-winning squad.

The 23-players who took part in last summer’s tournament wrote to former prime ministerial contenders Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss the day after the Wembley final, urging them to build on the legacy created by their victory.

‘The fact that we’ve been so successful as a team has given us a voice and a platform,’ Bronze continued.

‘We’ve always said that having that platform we want to use it for good and to send out a message and that’s exactly what we did after the Euros, we’ve continued to do that. We know the power that we now hold as a team and as individuals and yeah, the fact that people are listening is amazing that we can make this difference is amazing. We want to continue that and we do care about the legacy that we leave and the game that we all love so much.’

‘The Lionesses did so well in the Euros and obviously in the World Cup, and they’ve left a massive legacy and what this fund is, is building on that legacy,’ Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said.

‘It’s the Lionesses Future’s Fund, it’s 30 million pounds for 30 pitches which is going to give priority access to girls to enable them to build that pipeline of talent and also give them access to facilities so they can enjoy the sport.

‘Women’s football is at a critical stage internationally, and I want to make sure that we, the government, support it to the next stage. Both, at the highest level but also at grassroots level, so that we see that pipeline of talent. That’s what this Lionesses Future’s Fund is all about.’

The Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity, will ensure the pitches are placed in areas of the country where the need is greatest.

England’s Euros-winning squad had urged the government to build on their legacy

‘We have a big pipeline of projects all over England and we’re assessing them right now to pick the best 30 which will give the highest level of priority access for women and girls,’ CEO Robert Sullivan said.

‘A key question when we’re talking to those clubs, schools and community groups: “What is your usage plan, show us whether the girls are going to get the usage, show us why they’re going to get the first choice of the playing slots, not the last choice”, which is what often happens.

‘If we’re satisfied that they’ll deliver those great outcomes for women and girls, they’ll be the ones who’ll receive this funding.

‘When we’re choosing where to put facilities, we absolutely look at who are the underrepresented groups that will benefit from this. We won’t agree our funding until we’ve seen a community usage plan that demonstrates that all those groups have been targeted, that the slots are available to them and they’re encouraged to get the most access and the most value from the facility.’