FA Women’s National League strategy to strengthen women’s football pyramid

Avatar

The FA Women’s National League has launched a new strategy with an ambition to strengthen the third and fourth tiers of women’s football in England.

The strategy, titled Empowering For Success, is backed by a £1 million ($1.7 million AUD) investment per season for the next three years from the Premier League.

The strategy aims to ensure the advancements in quality across the professional game are also harnessed throughout Tiers 3 and 4 of the women’s football pyramid.

Empowering For Success is focused across eight priority areas – each with their own strategic goal – ultimately enabling FA WNL clubs to flourish both on and off the pitch through the development of players, workforce, and infrastructure.

The eight priority areas are:

  1. Players: Developing the training, playing and overall environment players experience so they can be the best they can be, on and off the pitch.
  2. Coaches and Leaders: Developing coaches to be exceptional across The FA WNL, ensuring they are representative of society.
  3. Referees: Driving upwards the standard of refereeing alongside improving the opportunity and experience of match officials in The FA WNL.
  4. Club Development: Creating an inclusive, player-centered and sustainable club network.
  5. League Development: Ensuring The FA WNL keeps pace with the growth of the women’s game and offers the best-possible development opportunities to member clubs.
  6. Facilities: Ensuring FA WNL and clubs have access to the required infrastructure on matchdays, at training venues and off-field.
  7. Commercial: Defining The FA WNL’s commercial value and engaging with partners to grow revenues and inward investment.
  8. Marketing and Communications: Growing the reach and appeal of The FA WNL by increasing exposure and awareness through matchday activity and league channels, driving bigger attendances and league following.

Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s Director of Women’s Football, said in a statement:

“The launch of this strategy is game-changing for the women’s football pyramid. It will ensure The FA WNL can maintain pace with the wider growth of the women’s game, and the clubs and their players can thrive both on and off the pitch.

“We want to say a huge thank you to the Premier League for their support, without which none of this would be possible. The money they are investing will transform the experience of everyone who plays in the third and fourth tiers of women’s football.”

The Premier League has also announced additional support for clubs in Tiers 3 and 4 of the women’s football pyramid through the Premier League Stadium Fund. Eligible clubs can apply for grants of up to £20,000 ($35,000 AUD) to support the improvement of their stadium facilities, making grounds more welcoming for all and enhancing the playing and spectating experience within women’s football.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

Avatar
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

Avatar
Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend