UEFA’s new women’s football campaign, Unstoppable, has been welcomed by Northern Ireland senior women’s manager Tanya Oxtoby and Director of Women’s Football Angela Platt.
“We are delighted to be supporting this new UEFA campaign,” said Oxtoby, fresh from guiding her team to a play-off final against Norway next month, after beating Croatia in extra time last night in Belfast.
“Our women’s footballing journey in Northern Ireland is in a really exciting place. And with the team we have and the fans we play for, I feel we can be unstoppable too.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Irish FA Director of Women's Football Angela Platt, who said: “We have spent the last few months consulting with the women's and girls’ football community here in Northern Ireland to hone our own strategy which will help plot our course to grow the game in the coming years.
"So it is timely and encouraging to be able to throw our support behind UEFA’s Unstoppable strategy, too. Our values align and we know this will be an important piece of work for associations like ours.”
Unstoppable aims to to continue the game's incredible growth, with an ambition of making it the most played team sport among women and girls in every European country and increasing the number of fully professional leagues.
The strategy was developed in collaboration with football stakeholders across Europe. It sets out the strategic priorities for UEFA to achieve a vibrant and sustainable future for the next generation of players, coaches, referees, volunteers and fans. The document, launched today, sets out UEFA’s vision for the game and its desire to build on the success of its previous plan launched in 2019, Time for Action.
The strategy sets out four long-term goals for 2030:
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To make football the most played team sport for women and girls in every European country, through developing football pathways for players, coaches and referees alongside grassroots opportunities
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To make Europe the home of the world’s top players, with six fully professional leagues and 5,000 fully professional players across the continent
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To make football the most sustainable and investible women’s sport, with record-breaking UEFA competitions
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To ensure women’s football is celebrated for its unique values and community, where everyone believes that they can have a place
Over the 2024-30 period €1 billion of competition revenues and UEFA investment will be committed to the game through senior and youth national team competitions, club competitions, distributions to clubs and national associations, and development activities.
