Vicky Losada believes grassroots projects ‘gives girls the chance to fall in love with football’ | OneFootball

Vicky Losada hailed the importance of giving young girls the opportunity to “fall in love with football” as she said the growth of grassroots projects gives her “huge confidence in the future of the women’s game”.

The former Barcelona captain and Women’s Champions League winner attended a girls’ football tournament in north London to mark LaLiga’s second year of partnering with London-based football charity Bloomsbury.

Losada, who now captains Brighton in the Women’s Super League, said such programmes are “incredibly important” for promoting sport as a tool for social inclusion and as a way to support both physical and mental wellbeing.

Bloomsbury currently works with over 5,000 young people in London each week and has partnered with LaLiga, the Spanish top flight, to provide young people with access to football.

“It’s amazing to give the opportunities to the girls,” Losada said, “and to give them the chance to fall in love with football. It’s important for them to know they belong here and have these opportunities.

“I started playing when I was six, with boys. I was the only girl but I think it’s important to tell girls today if they want to play football they can play football. It’s great to give them this opportunity.

“Women’s football is gaining so much momentum globally, largely because young girls are falling in love with the game because of programmes such as this.

“Seeing their determination and passion in the tournament today gives me huge confidence in the future of the women’s game.”

Charlie Hyman, the founder of Bloomsbury, said: “When thinking about getting more girls playing football, the challenge is a demand problem; as a society we need to create girls that want to play.

“Helping to boost young women’s confidence through sport is a key business strategy for Bloomsbury moving forward and it’s fantastic to have football stars such as Vicky coming to the girl’s tournament to motivate them to keep playing”.