The Football Association has announced a seismic transformative shake-up to the Women’s and Girls' Player Pathway that will see up to 70 Emerging Talent Centres set up across the country with 95% of players accessing an ETC within one hour of where they live by 2024 in a bid to “unearth the very best talent in England”.
The bold pledge also promised to replace existing FA WSL academies with FA Professional Game Academies for the 2023/24 season to “cater for the development of talented players between the ages of 14 to 20”.
The new structure arrives as a result of a three-year Player Pathway Review to “assess the existing structure”, according to a statement from the FA, and is committed to make the game “more diverse, accessible and inclusive”.
