Through Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer, the UK government has accepted Karen Carney’s recommendations on the future of domestic women’s football.
A former professional footballer and now a commentator on the sport, Carney accepted a commission from the government in September 2022, after the UEFA Euro, to conduct an independent review. She published the review in July. We can summarize its ten recommendations as follows:
- “World leading” standards for players, fans, staff and “everybody involved”
- A set “talent pathway”
- Professional standards for the UK’s two biggest women’s leagues: Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship (minimum player-contact time, provisions in physical and mental health, training facilities, parental benefits, union funding, duty-of-care provisions, support for retiring players)
- Diversity on- and off-pitch
- Dedicated broadcast slot for women’s football
- Fan support
- Equal access to school sports for girls
- Grassroots fundraising
- Check on funding to ensure it benefits women and girls
- Grassroots clubs
The targets of the recommendations are the Football Association (FA) and its offshoot, NewCo, the governing body that will be taking charge of the two women’s leagues as of the 2025/25 season – with, according to The Guardian, a revenue split of 75 and 25 percent for the WSL and the Women’s Championship respectively.
The government will be convening an “implementation group” – consisting of the FA, NewCo and others – and establishing a Board of Women’s Sports. It will also be injecting £30 million (€35m) into the FA to fund the construction of some 30 3G pitches and “accompanying facilities” to “prioritize women’s and girls’ teams across England.” This is supplemental to the more than £400 million (€466m) it has disbursed to refurbish 2,200 other sports facilities.
