FA Cut Centres of Excellence from 50 to 30 Including Girls Facility

The English Football Association (FA) has confirmed the closure of its girls’ centre of excellence based in Hull after announcing that the centre would lose its funding as part of a national restructuring of the women’s game.

The centre, based at the KC Stadium, provides football training and support for girls up to the age of 16 but will be closed to the anger of parents and players alike, who now face journeys to the surviving facilities in either Leeds or York.

Dawn O’Neill, the parent representative at the centre, said her daughter Millie “burst into tears last night and said, ‘I’ll never play for England, because I’ll never be spotted’.

The FA expressed sympathy for the players and staff affected but said the decision had been made “following a robust 18-month consultation across all levels of the game”, adding that its aim was to “enable England’s elite women to compete on the world stage”.

Nationally the FA is reducing the number of centres of excellence from 50 to 30, and the Hull college released a statement saying it was exploring other sources of income to try and keep the centre operating without FA funding.