Women & Girls

Girls Only Football Sessions

For Primary Schools & Grassroots Clubs

We offer a range of Girls Only football sessions designed for primary schools and grassroots clubs looking to grow their female football provision.

These sessions offer a non-competitive introduction to the game, giving girls across West Yorkshire a positive first experience of football in a safe, supportive and fun environment.

Delivered by Leeds United Foundation coaches, each session lasts one hour per week, with a focus on football-based movement skills like agility, coordination, and teamwork.

It’s all about enjoyment, confidence-building, and giving girls the chance to fall in love with the game - no experience needed.

Part of the Female Pathway These sessions sit right at the base of our Female Football Pathway. Girls who enjoy the sessions and want more can progress into our Girls Technical Centres for additional training and development opportunities

Impact & Outcomes

For many girls, this is their first step into football.

The sessions help them discover a passion - or even a talent - they didn’t know they had, while staying active and having fun.

They also play an important role in growing the grassroots game. By partnering with local clubs, we support them in building new girls teams and expanding their offer for female players.

So whether a player is there to make friends, build confidence or explore the next step in football, the programme creates the foundation for all of that.

Want to Get Involved?

If your school or grassroots club would like to run Girls Only sessions with support from Leeds United Foundation, get in touch:

[email protected]

We’d love to help you build something special for the girls in your community.

Girls Technical Centres

Our Girls Technical Centres are open to players aged 7–16 and are the first step into the Leeds United Female Pathway. They’re the entry point of progressing into the Performance Centre of Excellence, Emerging Talent Centre (ETC), and eventually, the Girls Academy.

Sessions run once per week, and are delivered in 12-week blocks. Each block focuses on specific technical themes, designed to support individual player development. This is a training-only programme, designed to complement grassroots football by offering additional, high-quality coaching in a Leeds United environment.

Pathway Progression

In the 2024/25 season, 55% of players who attended exclusive trials went on to join the Performance Centre of Excellence or ETC - a big step forward in their football journey.

Session Locations & Times

• Garforth – Mondays, 5.30–6.30pm

• Grammar School at Leeds

  (includes goalkeeper-specific training)

  – Mondays, 6.00–7.00pm

• Benton Park – Tuesdays, 5.00–6.00pm

• Bruntcliffe – Tuesdays, 5.00–6.00pm

• Otley – Thursdays, 5.00–6.00pm

• King James – Fridays, 6.00–7.00pm

• St Wilfrid’s – Fridays, 7.00–8.00pm

New for 2025/26

The Grammar School at Leeds will become an exclusive Girls-Only Football Hub on Monday nights -supporting the continued growth of girls’ football in the region.

End-of-Block Games Night

Players who complete a full 12-week block will be invited to an exclusive Internal Games Night including all girls technical centres. Held at a central venue, this event brings together girls from all centres for a fun, competitive session where they can apply what they’ve learned. It’s also a talent ID opportunity - standout players may be invited to progress further along the pathway.

Exclusive to the girls technical centres

• Official Kit - To build identity and pride, players can purchase our official Adidas Leeds United Kit designed specifically for the Girls Technical Centres.

• Player Skills Booklet - Every player receives a Skills Booklet to track development and set goals. It includes coach feedback, technical checklists, and space to reflect on their growth throughout the blocks.

What’s Included?

• Weekly themed technical sessions

• Trainer of the Week draw for 2 Elland Road tickets (announced on @leedsunitedrtc)

• Internal Games Night at no extra cost

• Entry point into the Leeds United Female Pathway

• Individual player feedback

• Access to the Performance Centre of Excellence via internal referral

• Female-only environment focused on confidence, growth and enjoyment

Progression Route

The Girls Technical Centres are the only in-season progression route into the next stages of the pathway.

Players are monitored throughout the blocks, with potential for internal progression via coach referral.

How to Book Please visit: https://tickets.leedsunited.com/en-gb/categories/women-girls

Performance Centre of Excellence

Our Performance Centre of Excellence (formerly Shadow Squad) is an invitation-only training programme, accessed through referral from our Girls technical Centres. It’s designed for players who show real potential to progress into the Girls Academy.

This is a training-only environment, which means players remain fully eligible to play with their grassroots clubs and continue developing in competitive grassroots settings.

The focus here is on the individual. We look to develop each player’s technical ability while also sharpening their understanding of the game - especially their positional roles and tactical responsibilities.

Training follows a dedicated blueprint, built specifically for this programme, and includes pitch-based strength and conditioning, as well as access to a physiotherapist for both prehab and rehab support.

Sessions run every Friday between 5pm and 9pm, and the programme currently supports 10 age groups, from U7s through to U16s.

Exclusive to the girls performance centre of excellence centres

• Official Kit - To build identity and pride, players will receive a FREE official Adidas Leeds United Kit designed specifically for the Girls Performance Centre of Excellence Centres.

• Player reviews - Each player will receive two reviews across the season, giving them personalised feedback from their coaches. Using the FA Four Corner Model, we look at every aspect of their development - technical, tactical, social, and physical - to celebrate progress.

Impact & Outcomes

The Performance Centre of Excellence has already made a real difference. In the 2024/25 trials, 60% of players accepted into the Girls Academy came through this pathway.

How to Book Players are referred through our Girls Technical Centres and then offered a trial. To learn more about those programmes - and how to book - please visit: https://tickets.leedsunited.com/en-gb/categories/women-girls

Contact Details: Email: [email protected]

Our Girls Academy (Formerly RTC) is the pinnacle of girl’s football at the Leeds United Foundation. We have 40 elite players in the Academy across two age groups- U14s and U16s. Our aim is to be one of the country’s strongest elite systems for talented female players, producing players for the Leeds United Womens first team, and those with clear elite potential progressing to the the FA women's open age pathway and for England.

Our girls are provided with 3 training sessions per week, with excellent training facilities, including the use of Leeds Beckett University’s brand-new sports facility, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition and Psychological support in addition to technical and analytical training sessions to maximise their performance.

The girls play in the Junior Premier League in fixtures against boys who are on the fringes of, or are in, academies and girls within West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and the North East. Whilst

Impact / Outcome

Our Girls Academy produces top quality players that are not only technically talented but also well-rounded individuals when they progress from the Academy. We have seen many success stories with players representing England and teams across the Women’s Championship and Women’s National League. Our girls also have the option to stay within the pathway through our Post 16 Academy College Programme where the opportunity to combine studies and football is available, continuing the infrastructure and support of the Academy beyond the U16 age group.

How To book: Girls are referred and offered a trial through our Development Centres and Shadow Squad. For more information on these programmes please visit https://tickets.leedsunited.com/en-gb/categories/women-girls

Contact Details: Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0113 367 6598

We offer a full-time Education Programme in partnership with Leeds City College for female players who aspire to play at a high level, whilst also committing to an academic programme of study. Players can study A Level or BTEC courses when committing to our Education Programme. The programme is based at Leeds City College for your education studies and the football provision is based at West Riding County FA for training and match days.

The course includes:

• Training programme 3 x per week.

• College Fixture programme

• LUFC Foundation coaching (UEFA B/A).

• Full Leeds United training and playing kit provided.

• Collected to and from college and taken to training.

Impact / Outcome

The aim of the female academy programme is to help provide a clear pathway for players who progress from Academies programmes or females who are looking to combine their studies with full time football provision. It enables the women and girl's pathway to be extended beyond our Girls Academy (RTC) to combine both programmes in creating a holistic dual career programme which supports female football development. Creating a professional infrastructure which aids player progression and enables them to study their preferred education choice either A Level provision or BTEC.

How To book: Sign up via this link: https://forms.office.com/e/LT3iZ9iid3

Contact details Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0113 367 6598

Our Emerging Talent Centre operates three squads at U10s, U11s and U12s and is an FA programme that provides greater accessibility to the player pathway and more inclusivity for female players to enhance player development. The programme includes one session per week which includes technical training to each age group, for a minimum of 30 weeks. Included is an age appropriate Strength & Conditioning and goalkeeping provisions aligned to the wider coaching framework. The emerging Talent Centre will include training games across the programme and include a variety of playing formats to aid player development. The natural progression for this programme is into our Girls Academy U14s age group, or U13s shadow squad.

Impact / Outcome

The Emerging Talent Centre has been extremely successful this season in providing the Academy with girls of high quality to our U14s age group.

How To book: Girls are referred and offered a trial through our Development Centres. For more information on these programmes and how to book please see the website - https://tickets.leedsunited.com/en-gb/categories/women-girls

Contact Details: Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 0113 367 6598