Karen Bardsley Quotes

There are a lot of programs, a lot of teams now that have the backing of federations, the growth of the game domestically. You see this with Holland; you see this with Italy. It's a matter of time. I had to leave my home country to go and experience the game. Now, it's delightful that these countries are actively supporting women's football.

For the average person walking down the street, they don't even know a women's soccer league exists in this country.

The growth of women's soccer and women's sports all around the world has been slow.

When I was growing up, you didn't know there was a women's national team. Now girls grow up dreaming of playing for Canada.

When the Olympics and World Cups come around, that's when you see the real outpouring of support that there really is for female football.

Growing up, I looked up to major league baseball players, and now these young women have amazing, incredible women all across the board, from swimming to gymnastics to softball to basketball. It is incredible how far women have come and women in sports have come.

Norway has a great history of women's football, but it's harder now. We've stopped talking about development, and other countries have overtaken us.

For women's football in this country, it's important we do play in the best stadiums, and for me, Wembley is the best in this country.

Clubs in other countries can step up, and we can kick on with women's football even more.

How many women's football matches are selling out week in, week out, 20,000 plus? They're not.

It's a dream that we, as women footballers, get to play in the same stadium as the men.

Playing for England, it's a massive honour to wear the shirt anyway, but to come and play at Wembley Stadium, in terms of how women's football has developed, it's a massive opportunity.

I think it's important that we try to showcase what we're about as women footballers.

I think obviously the media need to help promote the game and make it bigger so the younger girls have women role models to look up to and try and aspire to instead of just male footballers.

Goalkeeping in women's football is catching up slowly. It is continuing to modernise, improving technically and physically.

I think that what's happening is that girls are enjoying playing. It's a lot more acceptable, and now we have a Women's Super League with hugely dedicated female role models - really committed players who people can see are dedicated and training as hard if not harder than any male players - that's all progressing the sport.

In a world overloaded with information and content, there is simply no excuse for fans to be ill-informed about women's football.

I've proved I'm in love with the women's game, and I think the quality is unbelievable.

For me looking at the success of some of the women's football World Cups, the crowds they've drawn, the spectacle it has created and the event that it's been I think it's really great cricket is having a go at that as well.

If I could, I'd change the way I came up through the football ranks. I'd love to have had an academy life the way the boys have it. I think female footballers would be so much better for having that opportunity, and we'd be more effective because we would be better players.

It's not so long ago I was paying £250 a season to play. I don't think in my lifetime it will ever get to wage parity with the men, but we have made so many great strides already.

The Women's World Cup gives FIFA a chance, once every four years, to showcase the growth of women's soccer. It gives FIFA a highly visible opportunity to encourage countries around the globe to also support their women's programs. It gives FIFA the forum to show countries the potential of women's soccer if only you support it.

I'm very privileged to be a professional footballer, and I want to encourage more young girls to play.

People were not even knowing that women's cricket existed. And from that phase to today where people would want to follow women's cricket, I think we have come a long way.

In a World Cup, the girls at Lyon are probably the ones that are going to change the games, and I know them inside out.