Nearly 300,000 women and girls are now playing football every month in England — a remarkable surge that Sport England is determined to keep accelerating. The organisation has just awarded £3 million in National Lottery funding through The Lionesses HERe to Play Fund, a scheme designed to transform women's football by creating more clubs and removing barriers to participation.
The growth is undeniable. Over the last four years, interest in women's and girls' football has doubled, with the number of active players climbing 56 percent. Football has become the most popular team sport for women in the country, and Sport England's executive director of partnerships and place, Lisa Dodd-Mayne, sees this moment as pivotal. "The Lionesses' legacy continues to roar with women and girls' football growing at pace," she said, capturing both the momentum and the opportunity at hand.
The fund itself is pragmatic and targeted. Between May and September, it offers two different support levels: £500 for clubs launching recreational football through England Football Programmes like Wildcats, Comets, Squad, or JustPlay, and £1,500 for organisations establishing new affiliated women's and girls' teams for the 2026-27 football season. But the money goes far beyond team formation. Clubs can use grants for hiring facilities, purchasing kit and equipment, promotion costs, affiliation and league fees, referee training, insurance, and courses for coaches and volunteers. The breadth of support acknowledges a simple truth: there are many reasons a club might struggle to get off the ground, and money shouldn't be one of them.
The HERe to Play Fund was launched in response to the Lionesses' second successive UEFA Women's Euros victory, which sparked a wave of interest in the women's game across the country. Rather than letting that enthusiasm fade, Sport England and the Football Foundation decided to invest directly in infrastructure. "It is vital that both existing players and the new generation of women and girls coming into the game have quality, inclusive and accessible places to play," said Robert Sullivan, CEO of the Football Foundation.
Accessibility matters as much as opportunity. The fund's year-round element provides up to £25,000 for facility improvements — changing rooms with sanitary bins, exterior lighting, hairdryers — amenities that sound modest but signal a profound shift. For too long, women's and girls' football operated with scraps of infrastructure designed for men's sport. This funding acknowledges that equal access demands intentional investment.
What makes this initiative distinctive is its understanding that creating safe, welcoming spaces requires more than just money. It requires attention to detail: the lighting that makes women comfortable training after work, the changing facilities that respect dignity, the promotion that tells girls they belong. The combination of startup grants and accessibility funding suggests a holistic approach to removing obstacles, rather than simply hoping interest translates to participation.
As women's football continues its upward trajectory, the question is no longer whether there's demand — the numbers make that clear. The question is whether clubs and organisations can scale quickly enough to meet it. With £3 million deployed strategically across England, Sport England is betting that the answer is yes.