Ten recommendations for women's football
Tuesday, August 7, 2018
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A Danish Football Association committee, headed by a former prime minister of Denmark, has published a series of recommendations for developing and strengthening the women's game.
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On 9 May, a special committee tasked with increasing the number of women and girls playing football in Denmark presented a series of recommendations aimed at strengthening and promoting the women's game.
After almost two years of deliberations, the committee, which was established by the Danish Football Association (DBU) in 2016, unveiled its final report – which includes three overarching goals and ten specific recommendations for fostering the development of women's football – at a major press conference.
Within ten years, the committee wants to see more women and girls playing the game, more women in positions of authority at local clubs (e.g. on clubs' boards), and more women refereeing high-level matches – in both women's and men's leagues.
The committee, which was tasked with identifying ways of achieving sustainable growth and development in women's football – all with the goal of improving women's health and well-being and empowering women working in the world of football – was chaired by former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who is now chief executive of Save the Children International.
"Since the Danish women's national team reached the final of the Women's EURO in the summer of 2017, interest in girls' football has increased significantly in Denmark. We need to take action now, unless we want the countries around us to overtake us with their ambitious plans for the development of women's football," she explained.
The committee has set three major targets for the female game:
1) At grassroots level, football should strive to become Denmark's most popular sport among women and girls. By 2025, the DBU should have at least 135,000 girls playing football in Denmark (compared with about 65,000 in 2018).
2) At professional level, the national women's team should seek to win a Women's EURO, a Women's World Cup or an Olympic football tournament within the next ten years.
3) Within ten years, one third of all registered footballers in Denmark should be women. Also, women should make up one-third of the DBU's board. Accordingly, one third of all resources should be allocated to women.
The committee's full report (in Danish and in English) can be found here
This article originally appeared in UEFA Direct 179