Another success for AFC Wimbledon Ladies and Girls
The popularity of women’s football is continuing to grow at a rapid pace and AFC Wimbledon Girls could have potential stars among their ranks if Sunday’s Chelsea Cup is anything to go by.
Both of the club’s Under-10s teams (pictured above) swept all before them at the tournament, staged at Chelsea FC’s Cobham training ground, which was held to celebrate tomorrow’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Final.
The final may be between two foreign teams with Wolfsburg facing Lyon, but the fact that it is being staged at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge shows that women’s football in this country is on the rise.
Sunday’s girls youth tournament attracted around 250 players aged between 9 and 12 to Cobham, but it was AFC Wimbledon’s girls who stole the show. The Under-10s blue won all six of their matches and clinched the Chelsea Cup with a 1-0 in the final against Walton Casuals, thanks to a winner from Charlotte Lambert. There was success too for the Under-10s black as they remained unbeaten and won their second-place play-off. They were helped by a superb individual performance by Lacey Quaintance, who secured the player of the tournament award.
AFC Wimbledon Under-10s Girls Manager, Debbie Francis, said it was a great day for the club and she believes the women’s game is really taking off now.
“It was a fantastic experience for our girls to play at Chelsea’s excellent training facility and it gave them a taste of what top-level women’s football is all about,” Debbie said. “There has been a big difference in numbers for our squads. At the trials last years for Under-10s I started off with about four or five players, but we had about 30 girls this year. We will now have two teams at Under-11s and a new team for the Under-10s. More girls seem to be coming into the game and they are of a good standard too.”
The participating players at Sunday’s tournament were greeted by the Women’s Champions League trophy and they were joined by the Chelsea Ladies first-team, who came to Cobham ahead of their Continental Cup match against Liverpool on the same day.
Chelsea Ladies FC captain, Carly Telford, said: “What a great day. The atmosphere has been fantastic and the girls are all so enthusiastic – you can feel their passion for football. We’ve had so many girls asking us questions and it just shows how far the ladies game has come in just a short time.”
Every player who attended on the day was awarded two tickets for the Women’s Champions League Final and individual player of the tournament winners were presented with a signed Champions League ball.
.Dons LadiesFor more information on AFC Wimbledon Ladies and Girls visit our page on the official club website by clicking on