VIDEO: Women's football in focus

Representatives from UEFA, Estonia, Russia and Turkey recently visited England as The FA hosted another UEFA study visit to give our guests an opportunity to learn more about women's and girls' football in England.

As part of a busy schedule the visitors were greeted by The FA's National Women's Football Development Manager Rachel Pavlou who provided an introduction to women's football in England.

The visitors then had an opportunity to inform The FA delegation how women's football is developed in each of their own countries.

A trip to Bristol Academy was next on the agenda and the party enjoyed a tour of the club’s facilities and a presentation from Bristol Academy manager Mark Sampson. The visit included a look at the Stoke Gifford Stadium, the first female-only football stadium in the country. As The FA WSL is now in its second season, members of the study group were really interested to learn about The FA Club of the Year and their experience in the League so far.

A local approach to women’s football was then demonstrated by Gloucestershire County FA’s Grace Bunker. Grace gave a presentation on her role as a Football Development Officer and the grassroots approach to developing the female game.

The group observed the Bristol Academy's 16-19 year old college team in action during a training session and the U13 Girls' Centre of Excellence team. To complete an inspirational day, the group finally observed the Bristol Academy senior side undergo an energetic training session.

A thoroughly informative few days was concluded with a trio of presentations from England Women's National Coach Hope Powell, FA Women’s Leagues Manager Tessa Hayward, and FA Talent Development Project Officer and England U15 Coach Kay Cossington, who spoke about The FA’s international programme, its women’s league structure, and elite player development structure respectively.

On the final evening the delegates got to met Sue Hough, Chairman of Women's Committee, Kelly Simmons, Head of National Game, Lois Fidler, England U17 Head Coach, and Sally Horrox from The FA WSL to complete another inspirational week for all concerned.