‘A lot of work to be done for women in football’ – Renee Slegers | OneFootball

Arsenal manager Renee Slegers believes there is still a long way to go to stamp out discrimination in football and the governing bodies must ensure protections are put in place.

A Women in Football survey published today found that almost 80% of women working in football have suffered discrimination in the last 12 months, something that Slegers hopes will change.

“It’s not what you want to hear, of course,” Slegers said. “I think there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.

“I think we need to stay critical. Although there’s been a lot of progress in that sense, we need to stay critical. It’s not always in the big things, it can be in the small things as well.

“It’s good to be aware of it. All we can do is, in our environment, make sure that that’s in a good place.”

Slegers also spoke about how scrutiny on players is much higher, in terms of body image and expectations.

“I think everything is probably on a higher level,” she added. “So I think the awareness around it is on a higher level, but the exposure is on a higher level as well. Which is why it’s so important that the awareness is higher so we know how to work around it and how we deal with this.

“It was there as well when I played, but there wasn’t the same exposure. It wasn’t going outwards as much, but would still be a theme for athletes in a sports team, especially team sports.

“But the exposure is growing, especially for women footballers, because the game is growing so fast. And that’s great because we need it to and we want to invest in women and women’s sports.  But we also need to make sure we always have good protection – a protection framework around it. With exposure you know that you need to protect people from certain things. And that’s the balance that we need to find on a broader level.”

Despite the challenges, Slegers also recognised the progress being made in the women’s game, pointing to Arsenal’s recent recognition as a result of continued investment.

Earlier this week, Arsenal were crowned ‘Women’s Club of the Year’ at the 2025 Ballon d’Or awards, following their incredible Champions League victory in May.

Four Arsenal players featured in the Ballon d’Or’s top ten, with a further three in the top 30 and Slegers praised her team, noting the history that has built to this moment.

“We had a lot of nominations, which the club is very proud of,” Slegers said. “We are of course very proud of the Club of the Year award.

“That’s an investment that the club has made over 38 years, since 1987, and that’s why the club is here right now.

“A lot of people have been involved in that process for a long time and built legacy for the club. And it’s not only what we’ve been doing now, but all the work that people have done before us as well.”