Steph Houghton Quotes

In London there was an article about all these girls bending it like Beckham, and in India there's this big wave of girls playing football. Wow! I can't believe a movie's done this!

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.

Clearly, those of us women who play football wish that there was more coverage. But it's one of those things that happens. Every year the level is getting higher, and I think we surprise a lot of people when the world focuses its attention on the World Cup or the Olympics final.

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

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 wanted to play football and wear the Indian jersey, but there was no women's football team.

It wasn't until 1999 when my idols Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly took home the women's World Cup trophy at the Rose Bowl in front of 40 million TV viewers that I remember thinking how rare it was to see women play sports on TV.

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.

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.

One of our problems is the culture of Brazil which focuses on men's football. Of course we would like to change that. Maybe one day we will have a strong competitive league instead of our women footballers always having to play abroad.

It will be important because every country is looking forward to getting more girls to play the sport. And if you have another World Cup of, say, Under-19 or Under-21, it gives an opportunity for young girls to compete at that level because there's something to look forward to.

I remember when Manchester United came into the league and I remember saying, 'Wow, this is huge. This is huge for a club like this to have a women's team.' It's so important for clubs with all this tradition, history, power, influence to have a women's team and to see the progress that they've made and what they've put into it.

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

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

There is a risk women's football becomes the most popular spectator sport that fans tune into every four years but are not interested in parting with their money to watch the same players on their doorstep.

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

A lot has evolved and changed in women's sport in the last 10 years - particularly football and cricket. So, I think my timing, in terms of being able to play both for a while, was fortunate.

I think when I first went to Man City, they weren't very professional. They were just starting out, and the men's team had just invested a lot into women's team.

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.

The image of women's football has definitely changed. Now we've got to make sure it keeps developing.

There weren't any opportunities to be a professional women's player until I was 16 and the WSL was formed.

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.

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.

Just normalising the idea of women playing football is a massive part of what we need to do.

Just having the support from the male players is important as the women's game moves forward.