The Irish Football Association has tonight launched “Together We Thrive: Elevating the Game For Everyone”, a new strategy aimed at bolstering women’s and girls’ football in Northern Ireland.
Unveiled at an event at Windsor Park, the Irish FA are aiming to bost the development of the sport for the next generation of female players, coaches, referees, volunteers and fans.
The five-year plan will focus on strengthening clubs, sustaining Irish FA programmes and ongoing development in order to make the women’s football ecosystem more sustainable. It is aligned to the football association’s ‘A Roadmap For Football (2022-2027)’, UEFA’s ‘Unstoppable (2024-2030)’ strategy for women’s football and the FIFA Women’s Football Strategy 2024-2027.
The new strategy is based on five pillars:
- fun football and the everyday game – making football enjoyable and accessible for everyone, regardless of age, ability, motivation or location
- clubs and competitions – delivering a sustainable women’s and girls’ football pyramid
- performance pathway – delivering successful national teams in a high-quality performance environment and support system
- people development – recruiting, developing and retaining a skilled workforce, both professional and voluntary, to support growth and development of women’s and girls’ football
- profile and visibility – raising the profile and improving perceptions of women’s football through increased visibility.
“During the last five years women’s and girls’ football in Northern Ireland has grown and evolved significantly,” says Angela Platt, Director of Women’s Football at the Irish FA. “In qualifying for UEFA Women’s Euro in 2022, our senior women’s national team reached a major tournament for the first time and, as a consequence, helped to raise the profile and visibility of women’s and girls’ football. We have also increased our participation numbers from 1600 registered players in 2018 to 11,441 in 2024. However, there is still so much to achieve.”
“This ambitious plan will require support from clubs and stakeholders, as well as local and national government. It will require us all to collaborate and work together more to enable sustainability of our football ecosystem, achieve further growth in our participation and enhance the game at all levels to reach our full potential at the highest level of our sport.”
