The European Football Association (UEFA) promised on Wednesday to invest one billion euros to develop women’s football by 2030, focusing on training at the grassroots level, high-level professionalism and public attendance in stadiums.
The program is called “Unstoppable” and is the second dedicated to female football players, after a first strategy announced in 2019 that accompanied growth in income, the number of female players and public attendance on the continent.
To continue this momentum, the continental organization identifies training needs for “female players, coaches and referees of sufficient quality and numbers”, the professionalization of leagues and the commercial development of competitions.
UEFA is committed to investing “one billion euros in competition revenues” and its own reserves “in women’s football initiatives” to support the projects of national grassroots federations and the development of its competitions.
The most prominent tournament for women is the European Champions League, which will witness a new system in the 2025-2026 season, based on the new system of the Champions League for men, with the participation of 18 teams.
In the form of the Europa League and the Conference League, the European Union will launch a second competition for women next season, after the European Cup for teams, which Switzerland will host between July 2 and 27, 2025.
By 2030, UEFA aims to reach “6 fully professional tournaments and 5,000 professional female players on the continent,” compared to 3 tournaments and 3,049 female players currently, and it wants to make football “the most popular team sport for women in all European countries.”
