Status of women in Icelandic football

 The Football Association of Iceland has published a report on the overall status of women in Icelandic football, the result of a two-year project analysing the current status, including suggestions on how to move forward and improve where needed.

The objectives are to enable girls and women to grow within the game, at their pace and in a healthy environment; to encourage more girls to play football; to bring in more women in leadership roles, and more women as coaches, referees and volunteers; to raise the overall level and visibility of the women´s game and support elite player development; and to strengthen the overall position of women within Icelandic football.

At the association’s general assembly in 2020, more women than ever before were on the list of club representatives. In an open letter to the clubs, the president of the FA of Iceland, Gudni Bergsson, called on club leaders to take further steps in that direction ahead of the 2021 assembly, and join the initiative to bring more women into the game.

“Currently, one third of all registered players in Iceland are women, but we are nowhere near that when it comes to administrators, coaches and referees. We must do better,” he said.

The report lists a number of different but linked projects, all lined up towards the same objective – to bring more women into the game – with various projects already started or under construction.

The initiative and the association’s commitment have been strengthened by a new official strategy on equality for the Icelandic football family and a new equality policy for the association’s administration.

This article originally appeared in UEFA Direct 194