By Caitlin Kelly 13/7/24
Above: Nottingham Forest Women celebrating a goal in a team huddle Photo: Nottingham Forest Women Official Media
It was recently announced that National League North side Nottingham Forest Women will move to a full-time professional model from the 2025/26 season. This is such positive news for Forest, but what does this shift entail and what will it mean for the club?
By announcing the switch to a full-time professional model, the club’s owner, Evangelos Marinakis, will no doubt have ambitions of both Forest sides competing at the highest levels in football.
For the upcoming 2024/25 season, the women’s first team will consist of eighteen full-time professional players, as well as a handful of part-time players to complete the squad. With the aim of becoming a fully professional team by the following season. Beginning with a split between full-time and part-time should seemingly make the transition a smooth one.
One aim of the full-time professional model is to aim for promotion to the Championship, before targeting the highest tier- the Women’s Super League. Forest narrowly missed out on promotion to the Championship two seasons ago after a 1-0 defeat by Watford in the play-off final, before the implementation of automatic promotion to both Northern and Southern Premier League winners.
The club has stated that with the change to this set-up involves a considerably increased amount of contracted time for the squad. As a result, the players will receive enhanced learning opportunities, allowing them to reach their full potential during their time at the club, both on and off the pitch.
The squad being provided with access to and huge investment into high-end medical, nutritional, recovery and support systems. This therefore will expand the fitness as well as the health of the players, and as a result, should maximise the ability to perform well by the squad.
Furthermore, another change for the Women’s side, but this time academy level, is discarding the paid subscriptions for Girls’ Academy. This idea sprung from the aim for both the Boys’ and Girls’ Academy to be provided equal opportunities throughout the earlier stages of their footballing journey.
In addition, Forest propose that contact time with the Academy players will notably increase to meet guidance from the FA for desirable talent development. The club also seeks to significantly develop grassroots girls’ football venues in the area as part of the ‘Vision for Sport’ initiative.
By removing barriers in the academy and at grassroots level, such as focusing on adding facilities in under-served areas of the city, young girls wanting to embark on the footballing journey can not only aspire to reach the professional level but also achieve that dream. These ideas also “aim to diversify the talent pool” coming through both academy and grassroots level and “cultivate homegrown Nottingham talent” states Nottingham Forest’s Head of Women & Girls Football, Amber Wildgust. This serves for a bright future for Women’s Football from grassroots all the way through to professional leagues.
Lastly, this ambitious vision sees Forest Women play all eleven league home games at the City Ground, providing the team and fans with elite facilities throughout the entirety of the season. This attendance capacity is a significant jump from their previous home, Grange Park, allowing the club to expand to a wider fan base and show off the entertainment provided by National League football.
With recent close calls, this all allows Nottingham Forest to continue with their ambition on playing Women’s Football at the highest level.
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