World Cup has kickstarted interest in football

As the Women’s Football World Cup has dominated our screens over the last month, more of us have been watching the female sport than ever before. Following the success of the England squad so far, Google Trends data has revealed that there’s been an 87% increase in people in the country looking to find girls’ football clubs in the last two weeks alone.

As many hope to become the next Chloe Kelly, we’ve analysed the data to reveal the odds of becoming a professional female footballer in the UK.

As reported by the FA, 860,000 girls between the ages of 5 and 15 play football in England, but there are only 260 players in the elite tier of women’s football. Therefore, according to this data, the odds of making it to the Women’s Super League are just 1 in 3,307.

The chances are even lower for those girls dreaming of becoming a Lioness, as the odds of playing for England currently stand at 1 in 37,383. To put that in perspective, the odds of getting struck by lightning in a lifetime are 1 in 15,000.

Odds are long no matter how you count it

Parallel to the girls’ dreams, it was found that with 665 male professionals across 20 teams, the odds of a boy playing in the Premier League stand at 1 in 3,745.

The odds when it comes to representing England as one of the 26 in the national squad are much lower, of course, and only 1 in 95,752 boys will go on to play for the men’s international team.

Here are some fun numbers to put these odds into perspective:

• Ever tried flipping a coin and aiming for ten consecutive heads? Odds: 1 in 1,024.
• Thought about finding a four-leaf clover on your maiden attempt? Odds: 1 in 10,000.
• Consider the golfer aiming for a hole-in-one: Odds stand at 1 in 12,500.
• To take it to a morbid extreme, dying in a skydiving mishap: 1 in 100,000.

For those women inspired by the World Cup and keen to try their hand at football, finding a local club has never been easier. Visit England Football’s club finder to search for a club near you and take your first steps towards realising your football dreams.

The odds to make it are high for both girls and boys, but every professional was once a beginner and somebody has to step out onto that pitch – why can’t it be you?