Girls football: Why it’s great for your daughter and how to get her started

By Clare McEwen

Getting girls into sport at an early age is great for both their bodies and minds. Girls’ football is booming and with the Women’s Euros happening again this summer, now is a great time to encourage your girl to take up football.

Women’s football is on the rise, and the Lionesses have been providing visible, wonderful role models for three years now, since they lifted the trophy at Euro 2022. With the rise in interest in women’s football, many more girls have started playing. But why does this matter? What could sport give your daughter?

What can football do for your girls’ confidence?

Let’s start with the most important thing: fun. Being part of a team, feeling a sense of camaraderie and playing together is fun. But it’s so much more than that, too. Girls who play sports have a more positive body image as they grow up. They have higher self-esteem and confidence, and exercise helps reduce stress and depression. Sport teaches girls to take risks, be assertive, and learn about the strength in their bodies. It teaches them leadership skills, goal-setting, how to think strategically, and work in a team. And that’s without even considering the benefits of physical activity.

Why the Lionesses matter

Three years ago, the Lionesses won the Euros and opened the floodgates for girls in football. It was reported that 68,000 more girls began to play after the landmark tournament.

I grew up in the 1980s, a time when football was firmly boys’ territory and girls played with dolls. Except they didn’t, at least I didn’t. Despite my mum’s hopes of a prettily dressed, doll-playing daughter, she got me: a football-mad tomboy. Fortunately for me, my mum supported anything I did (still does). Society did not.

I was oblivious to the fact that society didn’t think football was for me, and I played in the park and playground at any and every opportunity. After proving I was good enough to join in with the boys, they never questioned my love for the sport. I will always be grateful to them. I was obsessed with football. Talked it, watched it, played it, collected the stickers.

Other than the park and playground, though, there was no space for me to play. I couldn’t join the boys’ team at school. There were no grassroots teams that girls could join. There were no opportunities for girls to play in Cornwall, where I grew up. I channelled what I’d learnt about football into hockey when I moved to secondary school. I loved hockey, but it wasn’t football. More recently, I got back into football via my son. I now coach his grassroots team.

I’ve lived through a time when girls and women were actively discouraged from playing football, a time when they were tolerated in the sport, and finally a time when football is beginning to embrace females. Over the years, this change has mostly come about because of the increasing visibility of the Lionesses at major tournaments.

When I was 8, in 1984, the first women’s Euros was played and England reached the final: it was hardly spoken about. Now, the Euro 2025 event in July will be headlining BBC and ITV’s summer of sport. What a time to be alive.

How can girls get involved in football?

If your daughter is interested in football or you’d like to give her a chance to try it, the English Football Association has a tool on their website to “Find Football” in your area.

Or maybe she likes to watch but isn’t ready to give it a go yet — not all kids find it easy to join a team with children they don’t know. A quick way to get her to have fun with a football is to put a few items around the garden (well-spaced) and get her to gently kick the ball around them without touching the items (dribbling). This will give her confidence, a sense of pride, some exercise, and some concentration practice. If she’s older, put the items closer together.

My mission, now that there are more opportunities for girls to play, is to make them feel like they truly belong in the sport (and they’re not just an “add-on” to boys’ football). Culturally, we still have a long way to go, but we have to start somewhere. I’ve created a free, printable activity pack including football-themed colouring and a word search just for her. Whether she’s a budding baller or prefers to sit and colour, making the culture around football more inclusive is an important part of growing the sport and getting more girls active and benefiting from physical activity and being part of a team.

Football is a fun, easy way to get your daughter more active, boost her confidence, and teach her how strong her mind and body are. Maybe you could find a club for yourself too.

As women’s football has grown in England, so has my voice (and if I’m being honest, my irritation that I’ve had to wait so long). My book “She Can Kick It. The history of women’s football across the world via a girl in love with the beautiful game”* is available on Amazon and other online bookstores. And if you ever want to talk football or need some help supporting your daughter’s footballing journey, you can contact me through my website.