Number of female footballers in Scotland have doubled

New figures show

New figures showing that the total number of female footballers in Scotland has more than doubled in the past six years have been welcomed by the SNP today.

The figures, provided by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, come on the same day that the Scotland women’s team play their opening match of the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 finals against England.

The number of registered female players in the game – including girls playing in Scottish Youth Football and Scottish schools – has lept from 5,541 in 2011-12 to 12,885 in 2016-17.

Welcoming the news, and to hail the Scottish team and National Coach Anna Signeul as they embark on their Euro campaign, SNP MSP Maree Todd said:“The number of women and girls playing football more than doubling in six years is really positive news for the game and for women’s sport in Scotland.

“The fact that we get this news today – when the nation looks forward to Scotland’s opening match v England in the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 finals in The Netherlands – makes it even more worthy of celebrating. 

“Regardless of the score today, or indeed the results in the other games versus Portugal and Spain – Anna Signeul and the Scottish women’s team are already big winners. 

“This is the first major football competition that Scotland have qualified for and will be competing in since 1998, so this a great footballing success story for Scotland.”