The following changes regard both youth and senior football and apply nationwide:
Youth Football (10-15yrs)
The Football Association Programme for Excellence (Female) Regulations for 2008/09 state:
8.1 Players are licensed in 3 categories as outlined below:
A. International Football and The FA Centres of Excellence
Programme
B. All Schools Football
C. Local Youth Leagues including County Representative
Matches
Players registered with FA Centres of Excellence will be eligible to play in Category A football. They may be released to play in County FA and County Schools Under 16 representative competitions.
Players registered with FA Centres of Excellence shall not play in local youth leagues as it is expected that all girls will be participating in a full fixture programme.
Players NOT registered with a Centre of Excellence will play in Categories B and C only.
It will be the responsibility of the Director of the Centre of Excellence to monitor the number of games in which the player takes part.
The recommended number of games per season is 40. This number falls in line with the Long Term Player Development (LTPD) Strategy that the FA has embraced. This figure has been worked out based on these principles:
The average:
1. Number of league, cup and international fixtures
2. Length of the season
3. Of one game per week
The conclusion and the recommendations based on LTPD guidelines is to prevent overuse, especially in young players, burn out and encourage longevity and greater practice to match ratios.
Senior Football (16yrs)
This season the FA are piloting the opportunity for centre players to play in selected senior women’s games once they have reached the age of 16 if it would be of benefit to their development.
Centre players will only be able to participate in this pilot with the official recommendation of their centre director who will be responsible for strictly monitoring each player.
Any player involved must not play 2 games in one weekend but can play for which ever senior club the Centre Director feels is at a high enough level for her development.