Celebrating success: Fulham FC Foundation's EmpowHer Festival of Football wraps up

March saw a celebration of empowerment, community, and football at the EmpowHer Festival of Football, hosted by Fulham FC Foundation in honour of International Women’s Day 2025. The month-long festival, running from February 26th to March 31st, brought together girls, women, and individuals of all abilities across South-West London for a diverse range of activities.

Festival Highlights

The festival kicked off at our school holiday programme Soccer Schools. During February half-term, the girls Soccer Schools participants took part in a workshop celebrating what football means to them and understanding the importance of celebrating female role models. These workshops also took place at our Girls Football Development Centre sessions at Motspur Park with girls from U10s through to U16s taking part.

Inclusivity took centre stage at the Girls’ Disability-Inclusive Schools League and Women and Girls’ Disability Festival. Both days were packed with engaging activities, friendly matches, and tournaments, welcoming participants aged five and above. The Girls’ Disability Festival also welcomed Fulham FC Women’s Olivia Dale down to inspire, encourage and get involved with some of the football fun.

Our Primary Education team hosted a number of engaging events for our local partner primary schools across Kingston, Wandsworth, Merton, Hammersmith, and Fulham. This included two festivals of football, one at Fulham FC’s Training Ground and the other at Hurlingham Park in the heart of Fulham. A memorable stadium tour at Craven Cottage with one of our partner primary schools, Melcombe Primary School featured a surprise appearance from Fulham FC Women’s Players Stella Gandee Morgan and Olivia Dale, adding an extra touch of inspiration and the players invited the girls to be flag bearers and mascots at their game on the 23^rd of March against Ebbsfleet United.

On March 9th, the EmpowHer Women and Girls’ Festival welcomed participants aged 8 to 16 for a day of football. 70 girls from across Skills Club, Girls Football Development Centre, Girls Kicks, Soccer School and DisAbility all took part bringing together participants from a range of our programmes.

Workshops and Special Events

Beyond the pitch, the Premier League Inspires team hosted a series of workshops and speaker events at local secondary schools. Students from Raynes Park High School, Coombe Girls School, Hollyfield School, Dunraven School, and Ark Globe participated in team-building activities, created empowering message collages, and enjoyed insightful Q&A sessions with inspiring guest speakers.

The festival also introduced International Women’s Day-themed Fulham Memories sessions, encouraging participants to reflect on personal growth and share messages of support for younger generations.

Twenty young leaders also supported the various activities, these included Fulham FC Foundation’s Girls Football & Education team and some of the female Made in Fulham participants.

Fulham FC and Fulham FC Foundation came together with Barakah LDN, a grassroots community collective founded in 2021 by sisters Siham and Sagal Abdullahi. Their mission is to increase the participation of Muslim and minoritised women and girls in football and football coaching. The group was invited to Craven Cottage for a special Iftar event which featured an evening of food, good vibes and beautiful reminders which fell on the 27^th night Insha’Allah.

A Matchday to Remember

The festival concluded on a high note with a special matchday experience on March 23rd. Before the Fulham FC Women’s match against Ebbsfleet United at Motspur Park, the Health & Wellbeing team hosted their latest Women’s Walking Football Festival. Over 50 women across seven teams took part, with Crystal Palace’s team emerging victorious in the tournament after defeating Woking FC’s women’s walking team in a thrilling final match. Fulham FC Women players Ella Tagliavini, Sasha Adamson, and Tia Foreman attended the festival, celebrating with the participants and presenting awards.

Following the festival, Fulham FC Foundation participants from the EmpowHer project and Melcombe Primary School served as mascots and flag bearers during the league game. The team also gifted a signed shirt to two young girls, Harlie and Amber, who were attending their first women’s football match. As an unforgettable moment, they were invited onto the pitch to perform the coin toss alongside the captains and referee. Fulham FC Women delivered a dominant performance, scoring six goals against Ebbsfleet United and securing the victory.

Looking Ahead

Sam Hadley, Female Football Development Manager at Fulham FC Foundation, expressed pride in the festival’s success:

"It’s been fantastic to see so many women and girls in our community come together through the power of football. We are grateful for the support from Fulham FC and the Premier League Fans Fund and hope these events continue to inspire participation in the future.”

Fulham FC Foundation remains committed to providing opportunities for women and girls to engage, grow, and thrive through football. The recently launched Fulham FC Foundation Women & Girls feature video shines a spotlight on these programmes.

For more information on Fulham FC Foundation’s Women & Girls football programs, visit fulhamfc.com/foundation/what-we-do/women-girls.