Female players get football league in England
Summary
15 April 2011
A new Super League is being launched for some of the top English ladies' teams including Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. England's Football Association is hoping the league will attract more supporters to the sport.
Reporter
Maddy Savage
Maddy Savage
Women's football is growing in popularity
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Women's football - or soccer as it's known in many countries - has been played in England for more than a hundred years. But, unlike men's football, it's always been an amateur game. The new Super League will be the first semi-professional competition for women, with eight teams from across the country competing for the title.
The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition, where a country's richest clubs get access to all the best players.
Each club in the women's Super League will have a maximum annual budget of around $400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are tryingto match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events.
Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world's best female players and stop England's top stars heading to Germany and the United States, where there are already major professional competitions.
Maddy Savage, BBC News
The players will get paid for their efforts, although their salaries will be nothing like those given to top male football stars. The Football Association says it hopes to avoid uneven competition, where a country's richest clubs get access to all the best players.
Each club in the women's Super League will have a maximum annual budget of around $400,000. Some clubs, like Arsenal and Everton, will be helped by their respective male clubs, but others are tryingto match their incomes by coaching school pupils or raising money through social events.
Organisers are hoping the league will eventually attract the world's best female players and stop England's top stars heading to Germany and the United States, where there are already major professional competitions.
Maddy Savage, BBC News
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Vocabulary
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- unlike
- not similar to
- amateur
- not professional, not done for money
- efforts
- attempts to do something
- avoid
- stay away from, prevent meeting
- uneven
- unbalanced, unequal
- budget
- amount of money available
- to match
- to equal
- incomes
- monies or amounts regularly earned
- eventually
- some time in the future, probably after delays or problems
- heading to
- going to, leaving for
