With Women’s Euro 2022 fever currently gripping the nation, England and Arsenal legend Jordan Nobbs has teamed up with Just Eat to kickstart 101 new girl’s and women’s grassroots football teams across the UK.
Sarina Weigman’s side have enjoyed a great start to the Euro 2022 campaign on home soil with a 1-0 win over Austria in front of nearly 70,000 fans at Old Trafford, shortly followed by an 8-0 thumping of Norway at Brighton’s AMEX Stadium enough to book them a quarter-final spot.
This builds on The Lionesses successful World Cup campaign back in 2019 where they narrowly missed out on a place in the final, losing to eventual winners USA.
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On the back of that, a record-breaking 500,000 tickets have been sold for Euro 2022 and the increase in participation is expected to grow during the Euros, with Just Eat research revealing 10.5million women in the UK are set to be inspired by the Lionesses and the tournament.
With that in mind, Just Eat and Arsenal and England legend Jordan Nobbs have teamed up to kickstart 101 new women’s grassroots teams across the UK.
Why 101 teams? It’s been 101 years since women’s football was banned by the FA in 1921 in the UK where women weren’t even allowed to step onto a football pitch.
On the initiative, Nobbs said: ‘’I’m really excited to be a part of Just Eat’s 101 initiative. The women’s game has come so far in 101 years but there is still some work to do to break the stigma and provide the next generation with the tools to get involved and thrive in the sport.
“Grassroots football is where many girls start their football journey, so making sure they have access to opportunities is so important. Just Eat’s 101 initiative is great as it’s helping to make this possible.’’
Just Eat will provide the 101 teams with all the essentials to get started, including kits, bibs, footballs and other equipment. New teams already set up as part of the initiative include Skipton Town AFC Ladies who wanted to address the lack of opportunities for women to play football in the local area, and Doxford Athletic who provide a rewarding and safe environment for the girls to thrive with dedicated Qualified coaches.
Hilltop FC in Stonebridge London and the Saltley Stallions Womens FC are another two, with both groups made up predominantly of Muslim women, in the hope of changing perceptions, providing positive role models and showing that football is for everyone, no matter your beliefs.
If you’d like to find out more about starting your own women’s football team and become part of the 101, you can sign up here.
The SPORTbible Team