St Albans ranks 2nd nationwide for girls playing football

A study from footballwhispers.com crunched the numbers on ONS and Football Association (FA) data and found that St Albans ranks behind only Wigan for participation in grassroots football for girls aged between five and 19.

There are 728 clubs within 20 miles of St Albans, making it one of the best places for aspiring female footballers to start their careers.

Sarah Kropman, head of girls football as St Albans City Youth FC has seen first hand the surge in popularity for girls football in the area, both in her role at the club and as a teacher at a primary school in nearby Hatfield.

England's women won the European Championship in 2022, defeating Germany 2-1 in the final (Image: PA) Interest in the women's game has skyrocketed with the recent success of the English national team - winning the 2022 European Championship on home soil, before reaching the World Cup final a year later - but Sarah says the growth was already well under way in Hertfordshire.

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She explains:  Of course we've seen a huge increase in the number of girls coming to us since the Euros.

"Everybody said that would lead to an explosion in girls football but we were already seeing it before 2022.

"Over the last 16 years we've seen an increase from four girls teams to having 31."

St Albans City has 31 girls teams as part of its youth set up (Image: St Albans City FC) Asked why St Albans has been at the forefront of the game's growth, she points to the significance of Arsenal (until recently considered the best women's team in the country)  playing many of their WSL home games in nearby Borehamwood.

Sarah believes that girls being able to see top-level football up close inspires many of them to get into playing.

She also points to how many primary schools in the area value football and encourage girls to join teams.

She added: "Every girl that wants to play football, we want to be able to offer them the chance to do that."

Hertfordshire has become something of a female footballing hotbed with Hemel Hempstead and Watford also making the top 10.