Chichester City take on FA WSL 1 side Liverpool at home this Sunday in a fifth-round clash of the SSE Women’s FA Cup.
Armed with posters and flyers, members of the Chichester City Ladies youth and first team, led by first team manager Matt Wright, descended upon the centre of Chichester on a promotional crusade to drum up support for one of the biggest fixtures in the club’s history. A win would secure them a place in the SSE Women’s FA Cup Quarter-Finals, the furthest the club would have gone in the competition in over a decade.
Their impressive run of form in the SSE Women’s FA Cup so far is testament to the determination of the players paired with the support from the locals in both attending games and voicing their support on social media.
Chichester City Ladies club captain Emma Alexandre said: “The cup run has been incredible, it has brought everything from red cards to penalty shoot outs. The club and community has really got behind us for this and it’s amazing how far we can go when we push ourselves.”
First team manager Matt Wright, who also heads up Chichester College’s female football academy, which looks to offer top level coaching and education to young girls said: “The community has shown us a huge level of support, it’s great to see the women’s side being brought to so many people’s attention. We run a Saturday morning club for girls aged 6-14 at Chichester College every week so hopefully games like this will inspire the next generation to get involved in the sport.”
The FA is looking to shed light on women and girls’ football as part of its Gameplan for Growth – a pledge to double participation of women and girls in football by 2020.
The SSE Women’s FA Cup fifth-round kicks-off this weekend when Chichester City Ladies take on Livepool Ladies on Sunday 18th February at Oaklands Park.
The SSE Women’s FA Cup Final will take place at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on Saturday 5 May, 2018. Kids go free and tickets available on www.thefa.com/tickets
