Football is number one for women

Fulham are the first professional women's team

By BBC Sport Online's Bryn Palmer

Football has replaced netball as the most popular female sport in England, according to figures released by the Football Association.

A total of 61,667 girls and women are now affiliated to clubs playing competitive matches, an audit of this season's figures has revealed.

That is nearly 6,000 higher than netball, whose official figures stand at 55,807.

The total has risen from 11,000 across England when the FA first took responsibility for running women's football in 1993.

This has been a boom season for women's football

The FA's Karen Doyle

The rapid growth has exceeded even the organisation's own predictions, meeting their objective of becoming the number one sport two years earlier than the original 2004 target.

"Reaching our target two years ahead of schedule is a remarkable achievement and I think many people in the football world will now be eager to monitor its progress," said FA chief executive Adam Crozier.

"We are not only seeing a rise in the playing figures, but also in the spectator numbers and in the amount of volunteers who work so hard for the game.

"This brings women's football onto a higher level and I am very excited about the future of the game."

The biggest growth area has been in girls' football (under 14), with the number of teams rising from 80 to 2,451 in the past nine years.

Player numbers have shot up from 800 to nearly 42,000, while £8m worth of investment in a national development programme at grass-roots level is intended to ensure further expansion.

Karen Walker is a prolific scorer for the Belles

The latest figures are a further boost after what Karen Doyle, the FA's Head of Women's Football, labelled "a boom season for women's football."

The England side are already guaranteed a place in the 2003 World Cup play-offs, prior to their next qualifier against Germany at Selhurst Park on 19 May.

A tight finish to the National Premier League is also guaranteed with leaders Arsenal only two points ahead of Doncaster Belles.

Fulham's decision to turn professional and Arsenal's progress to the Uefa Women's Cup Final have further boosted awareness.

"Thousands of fans across the country have attended women's games at league grounds - be it internationals or domestic fixtures - and come away with a positive perception," Doyle said.

Sustained growth

But while women's football in England is in the ascendancy, it still lags behind Norway (75,000 players), Germany (169,826) and the US, where there are an astonishing 7.8 million players.

"While these figures are fantastic, we are committed to achieving phenomenal growth year on year," added Kelly Simmons, the FA's Head of National Football Development.

The FA also announced on Friday that Norwich City's Carrow Road ground will host a friendly between the England's Women's team and Nigeria on Tuesday, 23 July.

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The AXA FA Women's Cup Final between Doncaster Belles and Fulham on 6 May will be screened live on BBC 1, kick-off 1300 BST