The girls’ football talent pathway in England

How it differs from the boys’ system

Boys’ academies work under the Premier League’s and the EFL’s rules. The FA sets the girls’ pathway and licenses the Pro Game Academies at professional women’s clubs. England Football says Emerging Talent Centres are run by professional football clubs, National League clubs and other organisations such as County FAs and universities, and are monitored every year by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company. Age groups and selection differ between centres, so ask each one.

Emerging Talent Centres

England Football describes Emerging Talent Centres (opens in a new tab) as local, accessible, high-quality training environments for girls with potential. England Football says centres must provide at least one 90-minute training session a week and a game at least every six weeks, including at least one festival. England Football says the centres are now free to attend, with funding from the Premier League.

The centres began replacing The FA’s Regional Talent Centres and Advanced Coaching Centres from September 2022. When The FA announced the new pathway in February 2023 (opens in a new tab), it described the centres as for girls aged 8 to 16. Age groups differ between centres: Brighton & Hove Albion’s centre (opens in a new tab), for example, took girls from Under 9 to Under 12 in 2025/26. England Football’s Emerging Talent Centres page lists the centres by region, with contacts.

A girl at an Emerging Talent Centre can keep playing for her grassroots club, school or representative team. England Football says so on its Emerging Talent Centres page.

How girls are identified and invited

There is no single route in. England Football asks families to contact the Emerging Talent Centres in their area. Some centres invite applications and hold trials: for 2025/26, Brighton & Hove Albion asked families to send an expression of interest through an online form and then invited some of those girls to trial sessions. Ask each centre how and when it selects players.

Discover My Talent (opens in a new tab) is The FA’s referral scheme for the England talent pathway, and The FA says players can be referred from any playing environment, including grassroots clubs and schools. For 2026/27, The FA’s referral page (opens in a new tab) says it covers girls living in England who were born between 2011 and 2013 and are eligible to represent England. Anyone involved in her football, such as a coach, a teacher or a referee, can refer her, but family and friends cannot. The FA says the next referral window will be confirmed later.

A referral is not selection for England. The FA’s answers to families (opens in a new tab) say an invitation that follows one is “not a selection or trial for England”. The FA may invite referred players to further talent identification or confirmation events, or into its Regional Top Talent Programme, and says it aims to consider every referral within 12 months. It says it cannot give individual feedback. A referral is separate from contacting an Emerging Talent Centre about that centre’s own places.

Our football trials guide covers how to check that an approach or a trial is genuine.

Pro Game Academies

England Football says Pro Game Academies (PGAs) (opens in a new tab) focus on players aged 14 to 20, from Under 15 to Under 21, who show potential, with a high-performance club training and playing environment. The FA first awarded Professional Game Academy licences in 2023 (opens in a new tab), to clubs in the Women’s Super League and the Women’s Championship, now WSL 2. England Football’s Pro Game Academies page lists the academies. Ask the club how it recruits.

Some clubs outside that structure run programmes they call a girls’ academy. Our guide to clubs, academies, football schools and development centres explains what to ask about any programme with that name.

Playing with boys

Girls can play in mixed teams in youth football in England. Our guide to girls’ grassroots football explains how long she can play in a mixed team and what to ask a club about its girls’ football.

What it costs

England Football says Emerging Talent Centres are free to attend. Its pages do not say what Pro Game Academies cost families, if anything, so ask the academy.

Raising a concern

When your daughter starts at a centre or academy, ask who its safeguarding contact is. In England, you can report a concern to any of these:

• The centre’s or club’s safeguarding contact.
• The County FA’s Designated Safeguarding Officer.
• The FA’s safeguarding team (opens in a new tab).

You do not have to report through the centre first. If the concern is about the safeguarding contact, you can go straight to the County FA or The FA. If you cannot contact the centre’s safeguarding contact or the County FA’s Designated Safeguarding Officer, The FA’s guidance points to the NSPCC helpline. If you think a child is suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm, contact your local authority’s children’s social care. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

Our guide to safeguarding in grassroots football explains how safeguarding works in clubs.

Find a girls’ team

You can search for clubs with girls’ teams by area and age group.