Teen girls still excluded from football, despite uptick in interest ahead of Women’s World Cup

With one week to go until the start of the Women’s Football World Cup, Football Beyond Borders – an education and social inclusion charity – is launching an urgent appeal to fight the continued exclusion of teen girls from the sport.

Following the Lionesses’ landmark win – hailed as a breakthrough for the women’s game – 46% of teen girls say they are watching more football than ever before, yet 53% say they rarely or never play football at all, demonstrating that their interest is not translating from screen to squad.

When asked what is stopping teen girls from playing the results are wide-ranging – from being told they can’t play football while wearing their hijab, schools removing girls football when certain PE teachers leave or boys’ tendency to dominate the football pitches in schools. Football Beyond Borders’ programmes use football to keep young people engaged in school – 95% of young people at-risk of exclusion the charity supports finish school and their participants are 11x more likely to pass English and Match GCSEs than national comparison groups.

In a bid to help girls break the grass ceiling to find more opportunities to play the sport, Football Beyond Borders is today launching a free immersive experience outside London Kings Cross train station which will shine a light on the huge numbers of barriers young girls face and enable the public to experience them for themselves. The installation will be live for two days and is designed to build understanding of the barriers and to galvanise more support of the issue.

This latest phase of the campaign builds on Football Beyond Borders’ work to ensure the legacy of the Lionesses’ Euros win is not lost. The charity has a number of recommendations for UK policymakers to achieve this, beyond the funding already announced for schools, including:

Youth voices must be present in policy-making and advisory boards. Youth representation needs to be at all tiers of decision making in the UK government.
Provisions such as Football Beyond Borders need more adequate funding to ensure long-term engagement between staff and the young people they work with. Trusted adults lead to embedded relationships which prolong access to the game.
Create a programme that will engage and educate parents on the benefits football brings to girls. This will give families the confidence and information they need to support girls’ aspirations to play.
16 year old Umme, a participant of Football Beyond Borders’ programmes, in 2021 launched a campaign in her school to fight for a rule change which would allow girls to wear sports hijabs, enabling them to play football. She is now taking her hijab campaign to her local council in Lancashire and has aspirations to take it nationwide. She said: “I want to play football, but my experience shows there are more barriers for girls like me than there are boys. When I pointed out that not being able to wear my hijab would stop my ability to play, my school recognised that and changed their schoolwear policy. But what about all the other girls across the country who haven’t yet found their voice to fight it? They’re the ones missing out. Change is needed and I’m here to fight for that.”

Head of Brand at Football Beyond Borders Ceylon Andi Hickman said: “The battle for inclusivity is still not done and frankly, girls deserve better. The upcoming World Cup provides a critical platform for the women’s game which is why we’re shining a light on why it’s still so challenging for every girl to play. We know firsthand that football can be crucial in helping young girls stay in school and build their confidence which is why we need people to support initiatives that dismantle the barriers and exclude girls from the sport they want to play. The government can’t stop at a one-off burst of funding until 2025, because what happens after those two years are up? They’ve made the right first step but more needs to be done to support the next generation.”

In an urgent effort to help save the Lioness’ crucial legacy and drive participation and engagement in women’s football, Football Beyond Borders has launched a GoFundMe drive to raise enough money to ensure a generation of teenage girls aren’t left behind.

Football Beyond Borders uses football to support young people to stay in school. Girls are at higher risk of informal exclusion from school than boys, and minoritized girls twice as likely to be excluded as white girls. Football Beyond Borders’ programme uses football to keep young people engaged – 95% of those the charity supports finish school and are 11x more likely to pass English and Match GCSEs.