PRESS RELEASE : Karen Carney appoints expert panel to support major review of women’s football, launched by UK Government [February 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 14 February 2023.

Next step in ongoing review of domestic women’s football, launched in September 2022, examining issues affecting the game at elite and grassroots level.

• Former professional footballer turned pundit Ian Wright and former Lionesses head coach Hope Powell to advise Carney on next stage of review
• Wider group of sports executives including from the NFL will offer advice in areas such as commercial and grassroots participation
• Carney today meets with Chelsea women’s head coach Emma Hayes at Kingsmeadow Stadium

Football pundit and former professional footballer Ian Wright and former Lionesses head coach Hope Powell will advise a review looking at ways to boost participation  and strengthen the commercial standing of women’s football in the UK.

Representatives from the NFL, the Women in Football group, sports business administrators and campaigners have also been appointed by review chair Karen Carney.

Carney, a former England and Great Britain footballer, was commissioned by the UK government to look at the state of the women’s professional game, from the grassroots to the elite level, following a recommendation in the fan-led review of football governance.

Carney has spent the last six months gathering evidence and today’s appointment of a panel of football and commercial experts will help shape the recommendations her review will make to the government. The review is expected to be published in the summer.

The women’s game has made significant progress in recent years, with UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 highlighting the changing attitudes to women’s sport. Records were shattered: there was a record global audience of more than 365 million people, almost 575,000 tickets were sold, with nearly half of ticket holders female and almost 100,000 children. There were sell-out crowds wherever the Lionesses played, and the final broke the all-time record attendance for a EUROs final – in either the men’s or women’s game.

Carney announced the panel as she met with Chelsea FC Women head coach Emma Hayes at Kingsmeadow Stadium to discuss the review’s progress, early findings and get her views on the state of the domestic game.

Ian Wright has become a highly respected voice on the state of the women’s game while Hope Powell was the first black and first female head coach of an England national team. She was also head coach at Brighton & Hove Albion Women’s Football Club.

Other appointees include Jane Purdon, chair of the Professional Game Academy Audit Company and director of the Women in Football group. She is a former director of governance at the Premier League and co-authored the Code for Sports Governance in 2016.

Brett Gosper, head of Europe and UK for the National Football League (NFL) and a former CEO of World Rugby, will advise on how to improve the fan experience. Dan Jones, a former global lead partner for sports business at Deloitte, will examine the commercial and financial model of the women’s professional club game.

Lisa O’Keefe is the secretary general of the International Working Group on Women and Sport. A former director of insight at Sport England, O’Keefe helped deliver the widely acclaimed ‘This Girl Can’ campaign which has successfully persuaded nearly four million women to get active since its launch in 2015. She will look at how to improve grassroots participation.

Chair of the review of domestic women’s football Karen Carney MBE said:

For this review, it was important to me to get the advice and support of experts across various fields, from sport to business. So I’m really pleased that Hope, Ian, Jane, Brett, Dan and Lisa have come on board.

Their experience, expertise and understanding of the world of sport will be incredibly valuable as we set out our recommendations for the growth of the game. Best of all, I know they share my ambition to make the UK one of the best places in the world to play, watch and invest in women’s football.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:

There has been a huge surge in interest in women’s football over the past year and now is the time to supercharge the game’s growth.

Karen has chosen a range of experts from different fields to help make sure her review can really revolutionise the game, from the grassroots to the elite level, and do so in a positive and sustainable way.

This panel will bring valuable knowledge to help boost the commercial side of the sport while improving participation.

The review, launched in September 2022, has a particular focus on:

1. Assessing the potential audience reach and growth of the game – by considering the value and visibility of women’s and girls’ football in England, including the potential to grow the fanbase for women’s football and whether current growth can be achieved without overstretching infrastructure.
2. Examining the financial health of the game and its financial sustainability for the long term. This will include exploring opportunities and ways to support the commercialisation of the women’s game, broadcast revenue opportunities and the sponsorship of women’s football.
3. Examining the structures within women’s football. This includes the affiliation with men’s teams, prize money, the need for women’s football to adhere to the administrative requirements of the men’s game; and assessing the adequacy, quality, accessibility and prevalence of the facilities available for women’s and girls’ football for the growth and sustainability of the game.

Since the launch of the review, Carney has asked for written evidence from a range of stakeholders from across the women’s game and met people from across the women’s football community.

This includes the technical staff and players at several Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship clubs, former players, the football authorities and representatives from other organisations to discuss the issues facing the game’s development.

She has also met with financial and commercial experts, alongside major broadcasters and sponsors to discuss the game’s financial health and broadcast rights.