The University of Nottingham — in partnership with Nottingham Trent University — has been unveiled as one of eight UK Universities to become a centre of excellence for women’s football.

As a Women’s High Performance Football Centre, The University of Nottingham will play a part in the recently launched FA ‘Gameplan for Growth’ strategy, which outlines the FA’s commitment to double participation in the women’s game by 2020. The centre will provide talented individuals with an environment to facilitate both their academic and football ambitions, with a focus on the FA’s long-term ambitions to increase the number of qualified female coaches.

Players will have access to a variety of services such as coaching, sports sciences and sports medicine as well as scholarship opportunities, helping to create the next generation of the game’s behind-the-scenes workforce, whether as volunteers, administrators or development staff. The new centres will also forge connections to the England talent pathway and The FA Women’s Super League (WSL) clubs.

Alex Perry, Assistant Director of Sport Performance at the University of Nottingham, said: “The University of Nottingham is immensely proud to be part of the Women’s High Performance Football Centre programme. Through our close partnership with Nottingham Trent University we are excited to begin work with the FA to develop and inspire the current and next generation of women’s football coaches and talented athletes.”