What Stops Girls From Staying in Football?

This guest blog article has been written by Wangeci Mbogo from Pitch Pearls - a website dedicated to women’s football, with practical advice, training ideas and insights for players, coaches and fans. Covering everything from football skills and confidence to the experiences of girls and women in the game, Pitch Pearls aims to help readers better understand and enjoy women’s football. In this article, Wangeci explores why girls stop playing and what needs to change to help them stay in the sport...

Have you ever watched a group of young girls play football and thought, “These girls love this”?

They chase the ball, celebrate every goal, argue over who takes the next free kick, and run around as if the pitch belongs to them. Mark this: when they are young.

Then something changes.

A few years later, some of those girls are gone, and this is the part we do not always talk about.

Women’s football is growing.

In 2023, FIFA reported that the number of women and girls playing organised football reached 16.6 million, a 24% increase from 2019.

That is huge progress.

But getting girls onto the pitch is only one part of the job. Keeping them there is another.

So, why do girls leave?

Let’s find out!

Gender Stereotypes Make Girls Feel Football Is Not for Them

Let’s start with something many girls hear long before they even know what a football boot costs...

“Football is for boys.”

Maybe nobody says those exact words.

Instead, a girl hears that football is too rough.

She is told she will become too masculine. Someone laughs when she says she wants to play. Her brother gets taken to training while she is encouraged to find something “more suitable”.

Little comments can pile up.

Research from the Australian Sports Commission shows that gender expectations can affect girls’ attitudes towards sport from a young age.

Around a third of girls surveyed said people think sport is for boys and does not matter as much for girls.

And being allowed to play is not the same as feeling that you belong.

This can look different around the world.

In some African communities, girls may be expected to focus more on school, household responsibilities, or traditionally female roles.

In parts of Asia and still in Africa, cultural or religious expectations around clothing, mixed environments, and girls’ participation can also affect whether football feels comfortable or acceptable.

Girls Lose Confidence When Football Becomes More Competitive

Remember when, as a young soccer girl, football was just fun?

You played because you wanted to play.

Nobody cared if your first touch went somewhere near the next county.

Then you got older.

Suddenly there are trials, selections, rankings, stronger opponents, and comparisons.

Someone is faster than you.

Someone scores more goals.

Someone gets picked while you sit on the bench.

For some girls, this is where football starts feeling different.

The Australian Sports Commission also lists confidence, fear of judgement, lack of time, and competitive environments among barriers for girls and women.

Its research also found that girls disengage when sport becomes too competitive and when they can no longer take part simply for fun.

And that fear of making a mistake can become huge...

What if I lose the ball?

What if the coach shouts?

What if everyone sees me miss?

What if I am not good enough?

A girl who once ran onto the pitch without thinking twice can suddenly spend the whole match worrying about getting something wrong.

The pressure can also look different depending on where she lives.

In countries such as the United States, competitive club football can involve intense travel and performance demands.

In other places, the opposite problem exists: there may not be enough competitions or teams for girls to progress.

Either way, the result can be similar.

She stops seeing football as something she enjoys and starts seeing it as another place where she might fail.

Puberty, Periods and Body Image Change the Football Experience

Then puberty arrives.

And suddenly, the body that once felt easy to move in feels completely different.

Breast development, body changes, sweating, periods and changing-room worries can all affect how a girl feels on the pitch.

FIFA has specifically highlighted puberty-related dropout in girls’ sport.

Its female health research notes that many girls leave sport during puberty, with one concern being that girls are often trained like boys without enough education about the changes happening in their bodies.

Then there are periods...

Period pain can make training uncomfortable.

Fear of leaking can make a girl terrified of wearing certain kits.

Tiredness can make a session feel harder.

And if there is nowhere private to change, no proper toilet, and no access to menstrual products, the problem becomes even bigger.

Recent CAF research is looking at exactly this issue across all six African football zones, including how menstrual health affects participation, confidence, attendance, and players’ football experience.

So no, periods do not make girls quit football!

But get this: POOR support around periods can.

And body image can add another layer...

A teenage girl who suddenly feels uncomfortable in a football kit may start avoiding matches, changing rooms, or even training altogether.

That is not a lack of love for football.

Sometimes, she simply no longer feels comfortable being seen.

School and Football Begin Competing for the Same Time

At some point, the timetable becomes brutal...

• School

• Homework

• Exams

• Extra lessons

• Training

• Matches

  
  

Repeat!

For younger girls, fitting football into the school week may be easy. But as school becomes more demanding, something has to give.

And guess what is often seen as easier to remove?

Football.

Parents may also think, “She needs to concentrate on her education now.”

That decision can be understandable, especially when football does not appear to offer a clear future.

But once a girl misses enough training, she can fall behind her teammates, lose her place, and eventually stop going altogether.

For some girls, there is even more on the plate.

Household chores, caring for younger siblings, and other family responsibilities can take up evenings and weekends.

This can be particularly important in African communities where girls carry more of these responsibilities than boys.

So when we say a girl “does not have time for football”, it is worth asking something else...

Who gets to decide how her time is used?

The Cost of Staying Becomes Too High

Football can look free from the outside.

Find a ball. Find a field. Play.

But serious football is another story.

There are:

• Registration fees

• Boots

• Kits

• Transport

• Tournament costs

• Coaching

• Accommodation

• Travel

And the further a girl progresses, the more expensive the journey can become.

Just look at Leah Williamson, England women’s football captain.

Her mother drove her on a 430-mile round trip from Bude so she could chase her football dream.

Think about the fuel, time, and commitment that it took.

It is a powerful reminder that talent alone is not always enough.

Sometimes, a girl needs a family that can afford the cost of getting her to training, matches, and opportunities.

Not every soccer girl has that kind of support, and that can be the difference between continuing and quietly giving up.

In the United States, the youth football system has faced criticism over its expensive “pay-to-play” and travel structure, with high costs creating barriers for lower-income families and potentially keeping talented players outside elite pathways.

In other parts of the world, the barrier may be much smaller but still enough to stop a player.

Maybe the family cannot afford transport to training.

Maybe the boots are finished.

Maybe registration is due.

Maybe there are three children in the family, and only one can get the football money this month.

That is why saying “football is free” can be misleading.

A girl might be able to play football for free.

Can she afford to keep progressing?

That is a very different question.

Girls Cannot Find Enough Suitable Places or Teams to Keep Playing

Imagine loving football at 10, only to turn 14 and discover there is no team for your age... What do you do?

This is a problem many young girls who play soccer face in many parts of the world.

There may be girls’ teams for younger players but very few for teenagers.

A team may disappear because there are not enough players.

A girl may have to travel a long distance to find another club.

She may be pushed into playing with much younger or older players.

Sometimes there is simply nowhere to go next.

FIFA’s talent development research found that girls aged 12 to 15 in the top 20 women’s football member associations had 28% fewer training opportunities per week than boys.

It also found that only 39 of the top 100 member associations had a strategy to support the move from youth to senior women’s football.

The point is simple...

Starting a girls’ football programme is good.

Making sure there is somewhere for those girls to go next is better.

Poor Coaching and an Unpleasant Team Environment Push Girls Away

Sometimes the problem is not football - It is what happens around football.

• A coach who only shouts.

• A teammate who constantly mocks mistakes.

• Parents who turn every match into a test.

• A player who feels ignored while others get more attention.

That can drain the joy out of the game very quickly.

Girls may also need coaches who understand what happens during adolescence.

A coach does not need to treat girls as fragile.

But they do need to recognise that confidence, body changes, pressure and development can affect how teenage players experience sport.

And who is coaching these girls?

FIFA’s 2023 global women’s football survey found that women made up only 5% of coaches and 9% of referees.

That does not mean a male coach cannot coach girls well.

Of course he can.

But it does show how heavily male the football environment still is.

A good coach can make a girl believe she belongs.

A poor one can make her wonder why she came in the first place.

Girls Do Not Feel Safe

Now think beyond the pitch...

How does she get to training?

Who is taking her home?

Is the route safe?

Are the changing rooms private?

Are the toilets usable?

What happens if someone harasses her?

These questions can decide whether a girl keeps playing.

For a teenage girl travelling alone, a training session that finishes late can become a serious problem if transport is limited or unsafe.

A poorly lit facility can make parents uncomfortable.

Harassment, bullying or abuse can destroy trust completely.

FIFA's safeguarding framework recognises that children have the right to play in safe environments and be protected from harassment, abuse, exploitation, neglect and bullying.

The details vary from place to place.

In some parts of Asia, travelling home after dark may be a concern.

In parts of Africa, transport, facilities and wider community conditions can create different challenges.

In conflict-affected areas, simply reaching a football pitch may become difficult or unsafe.

So safety is not one universal problem.

But the question is universal: Can this girl play football and still feel safe?

Girls Do Not See a Clear Future in Football

Finally, ask a girl who loves football one simple question: “What happens next?” Does she know?

Maybe she can see a school team.

But after that?

Is there a club?

A league?

A scholarship?

A professional team?

A coaching pathway?

A chance to become a referee, analyst, administrator, or coach?

If the answer is unclear, why would she keep investing her time?

Role models help too.

When girls see women playing, coaching, refereeing, and leading the game, football begins to look like something they can grow into rather than something they will eventually outgrow.

If the pathway disappears, the player can disappear with it.

What Stops Girls from Staying In Football - The Conclusion

So, what stops girls from staying in football?

It is rarely one dramatic moment.

Sometimes it’s:

• The comment that football is not for girls.

• The pressure to perform.

• Puberty changes how comfortable she feels.

• School takes over.

• The family cannot afford the next step.

• There is simply no team waiting for her.

• The coach makes football miserable.

• She does not feel safe.

• And sometimes she looks ahead and sees no clear future.

The experience can look different around the world.

A girl in the United States may face the cost of competitive football.

A girl in parts of Asia may face cultural or safety restrictions.

A girl in Latin America may encounter unequal access to opportunities.

A girl in Oceania may be held back by geography.

A girl in Africa may face several barriers at once, from financial pressure and cultural expectations to education, household responsibilities, limited pathways, and menstrual health challenges.

But there is one question underneath all of it.

Are we only asking girls to start playing football?

Or are we creating a game they can realistically stay in?

Because if football wants girls to stay, it has to look beyond the moment they walk onto the pitch... It has to look at what happens after.