The UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 had ambitions of being a record-breaking tournament with the power to inspire the next generation of players and fans, this was certainly achieved in crowd sizes and viewership throughout the tournament and in the legacy that it’s left in participation numbers of players, coaches, referees and clubs. 

There were three key objectives of the tournament’s legacy programme: 

o EQUAL access for all girls to play football in school 
o DIVERSE workforce of coaches, referees and local leaders delivering and organising football for their communities 
o INCLUSIVE, safe and welcoming environments for every woman and girl to play competitive or recreational grassroots football, irrespective of ability, age or ambition 

Thanks to National Lottery and Sport England funding, each of the nine host cities (London, Trafford, Manchester, Sheffield, Rotherham, Milton Keynes, Wigan & Leigh, Brighton & Hove, and Southampton) was awarded approximately £100,000 to address gender disparity in the sport and create recreational women’s football opportunities for their communities. 

Nike also supported the legacy project by providing each host city post-tournament funding to escalate the work in equality, diversity and inclusion projects, to further deliver on legacy objectives and maximise the tournament’s impact

The legacy project’s ambition was to achieve the following impact by 2024 across the nine host cities:

o 120,000 more girls regularly playing football in school 
o 20,000 more women playing football for fun, fitness and friendship
o 7,000 more women and girls playing competitive football in grassroots clubs 
o 350 new FA-qualified female referees
o 300 new FA-qualified female coaches, with more than 1,000 women and girls completing The FA Playmaker supported by BT Award 

With the formal tracking now concluded, the majority of these targets have been far surpassed nationally with the impact around Middlesex as follows:

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• An initiative promoting and encouraging football participation within the female South Asian community. 

• They offer free football events delivered by female role models in the South Asian Community including players, referees, scouts and many other roles within the women's football community. 

• Part of the project saw them host an eight-team ‘She is Believing’ world cup tournament with teams representing their home nations including Somalia, Italy, Argentina, England, Pakistan, Ghana, India and Brazil.

• They continue to host a variety of other free events including watch parties, networking events and training sessions, where women and girls are encouraged to attend, regardless of ability or footballing experience. 

• The overall aim is to bring awareness to the opportunities available for South Asian females to join and thrive in football, provide visibility and a platform for role models to be seen, and to create an inclusive and accessible space for females to play and enjoy the sport.  

Wildcats case study: 

• Mum and daughter case study.  

• Gurlovejot took her eager daughter along to a football session at Nishkam School West London (NSWL), which had been successful in its bid to become a FA Girl’s football Super Hub via the Barclays Girls’ Football Schools partnerships (BGFSP). 

• The BGFSP initiative, in conjunction with the FA, aims to get 75% of schools across England offering girls football as part of its curriculum - so far more than 12,500 schools have signed up. 

• Gurlovejot’s daughter Avleen loved the sessions and to support her growing love for the game, Gurlovejot signed up to the FA playmakers course as a way of getting stuck in herself. 

• Now mother and daughter are both active members of their local Super Hub and attend these sessions together on a regular basis. 

QPR standing against racism:

• QPR is part of the Female Refugee Football Project. 

• In January 2023, QPR Community Trust secured funding to design and deliver a 12-month project aimed at getting refugee women involved in playing football. It seeks to positively impact their mental health, reduce social isolation and increase participation in sport. 

• The project provides a safe space for women of all ages and nationalities. It brings them together and gives them the opportunity to make social connections and for many of them, play football for the first time.

• Since they began, delivery sessions have increased in number, with over 100 women each week. This has expanded to a new, younger cohort of girls. 

• QPR marked The EFL's Together Against Racism campaign, by highlighting the Female Refugee Football Project at their game against Coventry City (22/10/24).