England To Bid For Women’s Euro 2021
The Football Association (FA) has revealed plans to bid to host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 Finals in England.
The announcement was made ahead of a 31st August deadline for submissions, with UEFA’s Executive Committee set to make its selection in December.
As part of the announcement, the FA revealed a countrywide list of proposed host stadia for the tournament, including Wembley, which will also stage the final of the UEFA Euro 2020 men’s event.
Other stadiums proposed to host matches are the Amex Stadium (Brighton & Hove), the Manchester City Academy Stadium and Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
Venues in Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Peterborough, Rotherham and London also feature in the FA’s tournament plan.
Commenting on the bid, which has received full support from the UK Government, Martin Glenn, The FA’s chief executive officer, said: “Our bid to host UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 reflects our strong commitment to supporting and growing women’s and girls’ football in England.
“We have invested heavily in the women’s game in recent years and the opportunity to bring the tournament to England would represent a landmark moment for women’s football in this country.
“Our aim is to make UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 the biggest and best showcase for women’s football ever seen in Europe.
“We have not only the ambition, but the tournament-hosting experience, infrastructure and incredible spectator demand to ensure we would deliver a truly memorable tournament.”Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s director of women’s football, added: “We have made great strides in growing participation, support and success at all levels throughout women’s and girls’ football, of which we can be rightly proud.
“In ‘The Gameplan For Growth’ strategy, launched in March last year, we set ourselves some challenging targets which we are on course to achieve, but we are impatient to accelerate the development of the sport.
“There is no question that the opportunity to host such a prestigious tournament would provide us with an incredible catalyst for the future growth of the game at all levels.”
Tracey Crouch, minister for sport and civil society, also commented: “On behalf of the UK Government, I give our wholehearted support for the bid to host UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 in England.
“Our nation has a proud track record of successfully staging the most prestigious sporting events in the world.
“Having recently hosted the Women’s Hockey World Cup, last year’s Women’s Cricket World Cup and soon to host the Netball World Cup, we have demonstrated that the British public have a passion for supporting women’s sport at the highest level with record attendances.
“We are excited by the opportunity UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 presents, which will undoubtedly inspire thousands of women and girls to get active and take up football, whilst showcasing to the rest of Europe and the world our country’s capacity for delivering truly world class events.”
The news comes ahead of the final round of European qualifying matches for next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in France. England, Scotland and Wales all stand a chance of securing spots.
The bid will come as a boost to the domestic women’s game, building on England Women’s successful Euro 2017 campaign which saw the Lionesses reach the semi-final and secure a record peak audience of four million TV viewers in the UK.
Meanwhile the Football Association of Wales (FAW) is also throwing the focus on women with its newly published End of Season Review.
To commemorate 100 years of women’s suffrage and the growing success of the Welsh women’s team, the FAW has chosen to use exclusively female football imagery in this year’s publication.
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