Football West celebrates the 2025 Female Football Week

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Image Credit: Football West Website

Football West joins Football Australia in welcoming the 2025 Female Football Week, recognising the contributions of women and girls in football across the state.

Female Football Week (FFW) is a nationwide initiative that focuses on the crucial role that women and girls in football play in the community, whilst celebrating their achievements across every sector of the game.

FFW will take place from 2-10 May, and have numerous activations and events as part of the initiative, including coaching courses, webinars and a free girls five-a-side tournament.

Events taking place:

Monday 5 May

Coaching Webinar: Backing High-Performing Teams Off the Field

This session is tailored for community coaches, aspiring coaches, and parents of players. Learn how the off-field environment we shape can have a big impact on on-field success. Hear from guest speakers as they share strategies for creating safe, supportive spaces that help individuals thrive both on and off the pitch.

Hosted by Women Onside’s Samantha Lewis, the panel will also share their personal journeys in football and explore how we can continue to grow the game across Australia.

Time: 6–7pm (WST)
MC: Samantha Lewis (Women Onside)

Panellists:

  • Janet Drakos – National Female Wellbeing Manager, Football Australia
  • Faye Chambers – Coach Education Tutor, Football Australia
  • Louise McColl – Coach Education Tutor, Football Australia
  • Lizzie Ramsey – Coach Engagement Lead, Growing Football Fund, Football Australia

Register Here

Wednesday 7 May

Female Football Week Award Winners Announced

Join us as we reveal this year’s Female Football Week Award recipients, recognising the outstanding contributions of women across all levels of the game.

Awards include: Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Referee of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Community Club Champion of the Year

Volunteers Webinar: Securing and Delivering a Successful Grant Project

Designed for clubs aiming to strengthen their grant applications and deliver impactful projects, this webinar will explore what makes a strong grant proposal, how to build relationships with key stakeholders, and how to plan and manage a successful grant budget.

Time: 6–7pm (WST)
MC: Samantha Lewis (Women Onside)

Panellists:

  • Michaela Haley – General Manager, Growing Football Fund, Football Australia
  • Jess Woodroffe – Director & Secretary, Launceston City FC
  • Nikola Orgill – Senior Manager, Government and Stakeholder Relations, Women’s Asian Cup 2026 LOC
  • Jessica Clay – Finance Manager, Planning and Reporting, Football Australia

Register Here

Thursday 8 May

Officiating Webinar: Breaking Down Barriers for Women in Sports Officiating

Aimed at community members and aspiring referees, this session features a panel of experienced female officials discussing their pathways in elite refereeing. Learn how they’re shaping supportive environments to help more women and girls thrive in sports officiating.

Time: 6–7pm (WST)
MC: Samantha Lewis (Women Onside)

Panellists:

  • Karen Hennessy – National Female Engagement Lead, Football Australia
  • Belinda Sharpe – NRL Match Official & Project Coordinator, Strategy & Umpire
  • Eloise Sheridan – Learning and Development Lead, Refereeing (Football Australia) & International Umpire (Cricket Australia)

Register Here

Friday 9 May

Women in Football Breakfast

Join us for a special celebration of women in football over breakfast at the Sam Kerr Football Centre. The event will feature a panel Q&A with inspiring voices in the game, reflecting on progress, challenges, and the future of women’s football.

Note: This event is fully subscribed

Saturday 10 May

Girls 5-a-Side Tournament

Football West invites girls to join a FREE five-a-side tournament as part of the Female Football Week celebrations.

Time: 8:30am – 12:00pm
Location: Sam Kerr Football Centre
Eligibility: Open to girls born between 2009–2011 (U14–U16)

A great opportunity to showcase skills, make new friends, and be part of the football community!

Register Here

All-Female C Diploma Coaching Course

Join us for the fourth and final contact of the FREE All-Female C Diploma coaching course at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.

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WA Government and Virgin Australia Partner to Bring Discounted Flights for Italian Football Series in Perth

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

The Western Australian Government has partnered with Virgin Australia to offer discounted airfares to Perth ahead of a three-match series featuring AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Palermo, in a move that reflects how state governments are increasingly using major sporting fixtures as tools of tourism and economic strategy.

Subsidising travel costs rather than simply promoting the matches signals a shift in how state governments are approaching major sporting events. WA Tourism Minister Reece Whitby positioned the series within the state’s broader Winter of Unmissable Sport strategy, framing the partnership as a way to fill hotels, support local businesses and generate visible economic activity across a single week of programming. That logic places football alongside other major events states have used to justify public investment in visitor attraction, where the return is measured in tourism spend rather than ticket revenue alone.

A bet on Australia’s appetite for European football

Touring Italian clubs is not a routine occurrence in Australia, and Sport and Recreation Minister Rita Saffioti’s comments point to an underlying assumption behind the investment: that the existing fan base for European football in Australia is substantial enough to justify a state government underwriting travel costs to fill a stadium on the other side of the country.

Australian audiences for international football have grown considerably over the past decade, driven by streaming access, diaspora communities and the rising visibility of leagues once difficult to follow locally. State governments positioning themselves to capture economic value from that growth, rather than leaving it to broadcasters and travel operators, marks a change in how football’s commercial footprint in Australia is being treated by policymakers.

It also raises a question likely to recur as more international club fixtures are scheduled in Australian cities: whether public subsidy for travel around marquee football events delivers economic value beyond the host city, or whether the benefit is concentrated narrowly within the host state’s tourism and hospitality sectors. Virgin Australia’s involvement reflects the commercial logic on the airline side, with the partnership forming part of a broader push to connect Australians with major domestic and international destinations.

For the domestic football industry, the series is a reminder that international club football is competing for the same audience attention as the A-Leagues and grassroots competitions. Whether that competition proves complementary or extractive, in terms of where football-related spending in Australia ultimately lands, is a question state and national football bodies are likely to watch closely as similar fixtures become more frequent.

Referee Omar Artan appointed to UEFA Super Cup Final

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Image credit: BBC

The Somali referee will officiate the 2026 UEFA Super Cup in August between Paris Saint-Germain and Aston Villa.

 

World Cup controversy to Super Cup support

As 2025’s CAF Men’s Referee of the Year, Artan stands as one of the world’s leading match officials.

His expertise and skill allowed him to enter FIFA’s international list in 2018, and has since proved an outstanding ability as a referee, culminating in the CAF Men’s Referee of the Year award last year.

Despite Artan’s capabilities and reputation, his dream of officiating this summer’s World Cup tournament met a premature ending. The referee couldn’t enter into the US after arriving on a diplomatic passport and single entry visa, and was subsequently forced to return home to Somalia.

But Artan’s journey as a referee on the global stage is far from over, as UEFA and CAF confirmed that Artan will officiate the UEFA Super Cup clash between Champions League winners, PSG, and Europa League winners, Aston Villa, in Salzburg this August.

 

Upholding the partnership

In April of this year, UEFA and CAF signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which promised to utilise mutual support to encourage development, inclusion and wellbeing in football.

The MoU aligns unity, cohesion and partnership between two powerhouse continents of world football.

And now, the alignment is stronger and clearer than ever. In the midst of a major blow to Artan’s personal and professional dreams, UEFA and CAF’s partnership provided an opportunity.

“Omar is an excellent young but already experienced referee, who has proven himself at the highest competition level of the Confederation of African Football,” said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin via media release.

“Football is made to connect people, and UEFA wants to show its respect to Omar and his outstanding officiating skills, which had earned him such a prestigious nomination.”

Furthermore, CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, outlined why the initiative perfectly embodies the nature of a partnership between UEFA and CAF.

“This is a great honour for Omar Artan and for African referees and is also an excellent example of football bringing together and uniting people from Africa and Europe and worldwide.”

 

Final thoughts

Out of bitter disappointment and controversy comes a far more positive reflection of football’s influence and impact. It also proves that an MoU is more than just signatures, but a genuine promise to support the game and all within it.

A partnership like this has the power to help millions at once.

But sometimes, helping just one person is all it takes to prove its worth.

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