A new campaign launched by the Red Flames and the Belgian Football Union (URBSFA) in schools in Belgium on Thursday aims to encourage girls to play football
As of January 2020, URBSFA will visit more than 100 schools across the country to meet teachers, girls and their parents. The Belgian Union wants to inspire girls aged 5 to 12 and help them discover football as part of the Love Football campaign.
From October, the Belgian Union registered 39,901 female footballers and 673 all-female teams participating in a girls-only competition. "This is an increase by more than 6% and a very positive development for the fourth year in a row," the Belgian Union said.
The Belgian Union does not intend to leave it at that and wants to double to 80,000 football players, women and girls combined, by 2024.
In this context, the "Love Football" campaign will introduce football in a fun way to young girls and their parents, through their teachers. Various initiatives are planned, such as a "Love Football Dance", imagined by Red Flames Shari Van Belle and Elena Dhont.
Another project is a "Love Football Cup”, a major national football tournament for girls aged 7 to 9 (U9) and 9 to 11 (U11) held from March to May 2020 in four locations: Gent (Blaarmeersen), Leuven (Sportkot), Liège (Standard de Liège) and Tubeke (Belgian Football Centre).
Other initiations to football will be held during the year.
The Brussels Times
