County FAs, clubs and schools send 'good luck' messages to England.

County FAs across the country have been lending their support to England’s Women’s World Cup campaign.

Ahead of Monday’s Group B opener against Mexico, The FA’s National Development Manager for Women’s and Girls’ Football, Rachel Pavlou, arrived at the team hotel in Wolfsburg on Friday night with over 50 flags in her suitcase. Each flag contained an array of good luck messages from players and administrators at schools and local grassroots clubs across England, and these flags now take pride of place in the corridor outside the players’ rooms.

“It was an initiative we started before the 2007 World Cup in China,” explained Pavlou. “We wanted to make all our County FAs feel part of the experience and we wanted the players to realise there was a wealth of support for them back in England.

“The flags, but most importantly the messages of support, have been extremely well received by the players and I’d like to thank every County FA, club and school that took the time to complete their flags and send them back to me.”

England take on Mexico on Monday afternoon at the Arena im Allerpark in Wolfsburg, before travelling east to Dresden for Friday’s game against New Zealand. They round their Group B campaign off against Japan in Augsburg on Tuesday 5 July.