The University of Nottingham working with Nottingham Trent University have been chosen to run a centre of excellence for women’s football to develop the next generation of coaches.
The Nottingham consortia have been chosen but the Football Association to run a Women’s High Performance Football Centre, one of eight in the country, to increase the number and quality of qualified coaches in the women’s game.
The centres will recruit, develop and deploy coaches to FA Women’s Super League clubs around the country.
Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s head of women’s football, said: “The establishment of these centres is a further proof point of the FA’s commitment to transform the future of women’s football in England.”
She added: “They will ensure aspiring coaches and talented players in all parts of the country have access to the best training and support possible, providing us with the greatest opportunity for success at all levels of international football.”
The centres will provide talented players to study coaching, sports medicine and provide scholarship opportunities at football clubs.
The news comes after the FA announced its Gameplan for Growth strategy earlier this year.
The FA hopes to double the number of players in the women’s game and the number of fans by 2020, and create a high-performance system to help England teams at each age group complete on the world stage.
Eight centres based at a pool of universities have been unveiled on their ability to develop coaches, work with women’s football clubs and support the England talent pathway.
They include: the University of Birmingham, University of Chichester, University of Gloucestershire, Manchester consortia – including Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester – Northumbria University, Nottingham consortia – University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University – Sheffield Hallam University and St Mary’s University.
