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Football is loved by millions of people all over the world and women have played an important part in shaping the game throughout history.

Women’s football has seen considerable growth in participation in recent years, with the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) aiming to have 60 million women and girls playing by 2026.

Here are just a handful of interesting facts about the beautiful game that will have you shouting GOAL!

Women may have been playing football since it was invented

Before there was the football we know today, there was a similar game called cuju, often written as ts’u-chü, which literally translates to 'kick-ball'. A competitive game originating from ancient China, cuju involves kicking a ball through an opening and into a net, without the use of hands. Sound familiar?

The earliest record of cuju can be traced back to Chinese literature written more than 2,000 years ago. A bronze mirror in the FIFA Museum collection illustrates a man and woman playing together during the Song dynasty of 960 – 1279. The Chinese painter Du Jin even depicts women playing cuju in an artwork dating back to the 15th Century.

The first recorded organised women's football teams emerged in the 19th Century

In the 19th Century, Association football was established in England and women sought to form teams and leagues in the same way as men had done. Advice from medical professional calling for women and girls to be banned from playing reinforced ideas that football was a 'man's game'. But some determined women refused to be denied a sport they were passionate about and in 1881 Mrs Graham's XI was established in Scotland, later followed by the British Ladies Football Club in 1894.

According to the FA, the first public game played on Football League grounds took place at Crouch End, London on March 1895, which saw North beat South 7-1. An article credited to “a lady correspondent” appeared in the Manchester Guardian in 1895. She noted that, “The North team were by far the best, and deserved the seven goals to one by which they beat their opponents. The crowd, while evidently much amused at the peculiar style of play, were genuinely interested, and backed up the respective sides with shouts and cries of encouragement.”

The first ever UEFA Women’s Euro game took place in 1982

The first ever UEFA Women’s Euro was played in 1984, with qualifying rounds played in 1982. However, as only 16 teams took part, less than half of the UEFA membership at the time, the competition could not be granted official status. The qualifiers comprised of four national football squads, England, Demark, Italy and Sweden. The tournament was concluded with a dramatic penalty shoot-out that saw Sweden triumph against England.

The first official FIFA Women’s World Cup was held seven years later in 1991, with the US women taking the trophy.

A new world record for women’s football match was set in Spain

On 30 March 2022, El Clásico set a new record for women’s club game attendance at Camp Nou, the biggest football stadium in Europe. The evening saw 91,553 fans watch the match, following a 3-1 first leg win to Barcelona over their rivals Real Madrid. The game was FC Barcelona women’s first appearance in front of supporters at the iconic stadium. The Barcelona players produced a sensational display to beat Real Madrid 5-2, an aggregate victory of 8-3, and granting them a spot in the Champions League semi-finals.

10 days earlier, the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona men’s teams had played at Santiago Bernabéu stadium in front of approximately 60,017 people.

A woman currently holds the record for most international goals scored

The Canadian striker Christine Sinclair holds the goalscoring record of both men’s and women’s international football. She has held it since scoring twice in the first 23 minutes of Canada’s 2020 match against St Kitts & Nevis, which her side went on to win 11-0. In April 2022, she scored her 189th goal in 310 matches. She also holds the title for the most capped women’s player in international football.

The highest men’s goal scorer is currently Cristiano Ronaldo, with 117 international goals for Portugal.

2022 saw a historic moment in US women’s football

In May 2022, the US women’s national football team reached an agreement with the governing body, US Soccer, to secure a historic equal pay deal. This means that female players will receive a $22m (£17.7m) payout and a further $2m (£1.6m) fund to benefit the players’ post-soccer careers and charitable causes. US Soccer has also pledged equal pay for the men's and women's teams across all competitions, including the World Cup.

The United States team won the Women's World Cup for the fourth time in 2019 and have claimed Olympic gold four times. In a statement made by US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone, she described the decision as a "truly historical moment" and that “agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world."

This article was published in June 2022.