Steph Houghton wants to see Olympic 'legacy' in place for England and WSL

By Nicholas Veevers

England Women's ace Steph Houghton is hoping that the involvement of many of her Three Lions squad-mates in this summer's London 2012 Olympics can help spark a revolution in women's football across the country.

The Arsenal ace was one of Team GB's star players during the Games, scoring three goals in each of the side's Group games and following the feel-good factor that was amassed across the nation, is now hoping to see the interest continued into the women's game.

With England having a crucial Euro qualifier against Croatia coming up at Walsall's Banks' Stadium on 19 September and The FA Women's Super League re-starting at the weekend, the Sunderland-born defender is hoping the much-vaunted Olympic 'legacy' has already started for women's football.

"It's going to be enormous for us and hopefully we can get all of those fans on board and make sure they watch WSL matches and the England qualifiers coming up," said Houghton, speaking exclusively to FATV.

"That's massive for us, to make sure the attention is still on women's football and to get as many people through the gate as possible.

"We need to get as many people down to Walsall as possible, just to come along and watch football, that's the main thing.

"It's a big game for us, whuich we need to win to try and qualify for the Euros so it would be even better if we have a lot of people coming through to gates to see us and support the team."

With a victory against Croatia next month, Hope Powell's side will automatically secure their place in next summer's European Championship Finals in Sweden, and with the Olympic memories still fresh in Steph's mind, that experience will undoubtedly come in useful for another big tournament.

"It was an amazing experience and something that I'll never ever forget so probably the highlight of my career so far," she added.

"It was something special and I really can't actually describe it or put into words how special it was, but I was really proud and privileged to be a part of it.

"The support that we had was tremendous and amount of media and TV on us was brilliant for us as players and individuals, but also as a team and for women's football in general.

"I'm hoping that a lot of people watched the games on the TV and with a lot of the girls in the team being English, they might be part of that squad in Walsall."

The full video interview with Steph is available to watch above and tickets are also on sale now for the game with Croatia in Walsall on 19 September.

Call the Ticket Hotline on 01922 651416 or click here for more ticket details.