UEFA’s Martyn Hindley provides us with quotes from the announcement of UEFA Women’s football development ambassadors in Paris on 2 February 2015.
Karen Espelund (UEFA Executive Committee)
Tell us about the significance of the appointment of these ambassadors for women’s football development?
We need good role models, also for the small girls who would like to start playing football and do play football. So by having here five of the very well-known players in Europe… we’re happy to have them on board, because these are ambassadors for the women’s football development programme.
And they’re addressing the younger girls in the grassroots segment, but also those talented who would like to have a career also in the professional part of the game.
What do you hope that their appointment will achieve?
I hope they will motivate more girls to play, I hope they will work very good with the national associations, because we are dependent on them to start football schools, leagues, activities also for the girls…
So I know they are extremely good ambassadors in the way they also can communicate with children. So I hope they will be motivating and… [face..?] also with the associations.
How would you have benefited as a player from the same inspirational input from role models?
It’s a good question, because I didn’t have any role models. I had male role models, and it would have been an extremely inspiring situation also to have some female [role models] when I played.
So I think this is… of course girls and boys, they watch football, also the men’s football, but to have female role models is important for the small girls. They can see that: “yes, it’s possible for me.” When I live in Latvia or Lithuania or wherever I am, we can see them perform on the highest level. We can see them on TV, we can see them on pictures… I think that would also be inspiring for them also to have the female role models. That’s the ambition from the UEFA side.
Camille Abily
Camille, what does it mean to you to be a UEFA ambassador?
Of course it’s a source of great pride for me and I am very grateful. It’s a great thing to be able to say that I represent women’s football especially with all the fantastic players that will do so with me. Being selected alongside Steffi Jones, who has been an ambassador for a while now, Lotta Schelin, Laura Georges and Verónica Boquete makes me feel very proud and satisfied, [02.53] but I see it as more of the start of something big. I really want to invest myself in this new role and do my best for women’s football in Europe.
What are your aims as a UEFA ambassador?
My aims are to try to bring my experience as a player and everything I went through when I was younger to the table. It’s true that in France, even though things have developed well since 2011, it was quite difficult for women to play football previously. We will try to change the mentality in other countries, where it’s even more difficult such as in countries from the East and Latin countries, as we have seen with Verónica in Spain and Portugal, for example.
When you were a young player, what would have been the advantages of having the support of a role model?
It raises awareness about the discipline. It’s true that even though women’s football is recognised in many European countries, I think there are still many others that don’t really embrace women’s football. I think that this will give us a basis to talk about it more and show some videos which might inspire young girls to start playing. [04.01] When I was
young, I’d have liked to see the big players, who were my “idols” at the time, represent UEFA.
Steffi Jones
Steffi, could you tell us about your most rewarding experiences to date as a women’s football development ambassador with UEFA?
Well I had several, but to give an example there was Minsk that I went to, where it was great to see that they have been building up structures, a league showing girls what football gives them, have an exchange with the federation. So I think that is what makes this so important, being an ambassador.
How have young players in particular looked to use your expertise when you have worked as an ambassador in the past?
Well, most of the time they ask me first… when I started playing football, and when I say I started [at] 4, then they look at me and say: what..? I mean, most of them were not… having the support of their family, or even the opportunity to find a girls’ team. (02:24) So I was really lucky, and what I am really proud of is that UEFA is doing this to give every girl, if possible, the opportunity to play football if they want to, and that’s what I stand for and what I try to help.
What impact will the formal recruitment of four more ambassadors have, and what advice would you give them to make the experience and results as strong as possible?
Well, the four ambassadors that will support me, they don’t need any advice, they are great role models, they are leaders in their teams, and they are one of the world’s best soccer players. (03:09) So they should just know about the importance [of] being an ambassador, about the message that it’s more than just a sport, that it’s really… these girls need us role models to show them about the values, respect, fair play, tolerance, that’s…these are values for life.
We mentioned youngsters a few moments ago, but the development programme in Germany surrounds an over-35s league to keep women in football. Tell us about the strengths and importance of those projects.
Like I just said, to build up leagues, to build up structures, to make it more… to have a strong base, and to have the structures to build up a national team, that’s what they all want. (04:11) I mean, they have goals and they have the dreams to be… in the national team, so it’s important for us to build up structures all around the world, to show the federations that they should give the girls a chance to play football, and that it’s worth it.
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