PNE scoops Premier League funding from FA for Preston College based girl's football talent centre to shape England Lionesses of the future

Preston is traditionally the home of women’s football with one of the earliest known women’s association teams Dick, Kerr Ladies formed in the city in 1917.
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Now, as England’s women’s team the Lionesses capture the public imagination, the community arm of Preston North End has been granted a licence to run a girls’ football Emerging Talent Centre [ETC] in Preston to increase the number of female players at all levels in the local area.

The PNE Community and Education Trust (PNECET) has successfully negotiated a stringent selection process to win one of 60 licences allocated nationwide, as part of the FA’s aim to ensure that any young female player with potential can access an ETC within an hour’s drive of their home.

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PNECET  has been allocated Licence To Run Girls’ Football Emerging Talent Centre in Preston to increase the number of female players who are playing football at all levels in the local area.PNECET  has been allocated Licence To Run Girls’ Football Emerging Talent Centre in Preston to increase the number of female players who are playing football at all levels in the local area.
PNECET has been allocated Licence To Run Girls’ Football Emerging Talent Centre in Preston to increase the number of female players who are playing football at all levels in the local area.
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The programme will see PNECET renew its commitment to promoting women’s and girls’ football in the local area, with the ETC programme to provide elite coaching opportunities for talented young females. The ETC in Preston will be based at Preston College and will not only provide elite playing opportunities for talented junior female players, but additional opportunities for the local community to get involved in women’s football.

One full-time staff member will be recruited to oversee the ETC and further casual coaching opportunities will become available in the near future to support the development of players accessing the ETC.

The ETCs will start running in September and see the number of young female players engaged in FA programmes nationally rise from 1,722 to more than 4,200 by the end of the 2023-24 season.

The national network of Girls’ ETCs will be aimed at girls aged eight to 16. The new Centres will operate for at least 30 weeks per season and will commence from September 2022.

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Earlier this year, the Premier League confirmed it will provide £1.75 million per annum for the next three years to support the new network of Girls’ ETCs.

Jessica Riley, PNECET’s Head of Health and Wellbeing, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded a licence to deliver an ETC in Preston, through which we will provide elite playing opportunities for young female players over the coming years. The ETC will provide more girls in Preston and the surrounding areas to access a high-quality

football provision closer to their home which aligns with our vision to provide opportunities for all, regardless of any where they live or any health inequalities affecting them or their area.

“Having come through a Centre of Excellence myself as a young player – which is very similar to the set-up of an ETC – I’m looking forward to relating my own experiences to the ETC to help us to develop the next generation of young talent and unearth some of the budding female footballers in Preston and the surrounding areas.

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“We hope this can be a major step in developing the women’s game in Preston.”

Kay Cossington, The FA’s Head of Women’s Technical, said: We are extremely excited to be working alongside such a diverse group of clubs and organisations, which will help us identify players for the future, including future England Lionesses.”

For more information about PNECET’s ETC, please email [email protected], or to learn more about the programme on a national level, email [email protected].