Books About Girls’ Football

A fabulous sports-themed picture book with the driving force to follow your dreams no matter what they look like. Beautifully written in rhyme, this is an inclusive book and it is wonderful – but rare – to see girls represented in football in a picture book for younger ages.

Sammy Striker is a girl with a passion for football: she loves it so much she is NEVER without a football. At home, school, come rain or shine and she is always the striker who wins her team the game. But when picked for the county team her skills start to crumble. Her talented strikes miss and her confidence has dipped. When match day comes Sammy is feeling nervous and unsure but she has a challenge to face. Will she turn this game around?

Everyone needs to know that when things get tough, someone will be there for them and put them back on track. Catherine Emmett has done this beautifully representing girls in football and showing them we are all special in our unique way.

Lily has always felt she’s on the edge. On the edge of friendship groups and the edge of her own life, looking in. Until one day a teacher inspires her to join the local girls’ football team. Lily usually finds school difficult because she’s shy and anxious, but now begins to find her feet, quite literally, playing football. Her confidence soars, and finally she feels she’s part of a team. Despite a teammate and her inner demons putting her progress in jeopardy, she overcomes the mental challenges and succeeds.

This is a fantastic and well-crafted book. I especially enjoyed the history of women’s football, which was referred to after each chapter. Each chapter had a subchapter on icons of women’s football as well as the journey women have had to go through to be taken more seriously, but not yet as seriously as men, on the pitch.

This inspiring book is accessible from age 7 upwards, written in a dyslexia-friendly format with easy vocabulary for all to comprehend. This is a book to be read independently or with their families and one that will inspire future footballers, whether girls or boys, for a long time to come.

Taking us back to first world war London, Rebecca Stevens delivers a tale of war, family and friendships but above all an inspirational story of ladies’ football.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable and realistic portrayal of a young woman’s plight during the First World War, the danger of the chemicals that some women were exposed to, the empowerment of women during this time and the realisation, once the war is over, that life would never be the same again.

Jaz Santos vs the World is the first in a new series about a girl who gathers an unlikely group of friends together to make their own girls’ football team. This is an inclusive and empowering tale with a real-life feel that will appeal to fans of Cath Howe and Jacqueline Wilson.

When Jaz finds a leaflet advertising a girls’ football tournament, she seizes the opportunity to take back some control. Thinking carefully about how to sell the idea to her classmates, Jaz pours heart and soul into rallying a team of girls to prepare for the tournament. From fundraising to training, Jaz leaves no stone unturned – with her passionate hopes of proving that girls can be taken seriously in football matched only by her desire to get mum back.

With girls’ football growing more popular than ever, this is an empowering book with a dynamic and entertaining main character who shows what can happen when somebody leads the way in a new sporting initiative. 

This timely and heart-warming story about teamwork, self-belief and following your passions in the face of life’s ups and downs is likely to score big with readers aged 8-11.

Written by England football captain Leah Williamson with her cousin Jordan Glover, The Wonder Team and The Forgotten Footballers is the story of Leah, Mimi and George – a group of friends who find a time capsule and end up travelling back in time to 1921, a time when the government had banned women’s football.

This is a story of friendship and of working together to stand up for what you believe in. When the future of women’s football is threatened, the trio have to pull together with their new friend Dot to ensure the final game can go ahead. This is a great book for any child interested in football and builds on the success of the Lionesses.

It provides interesting insights into the differences between life now and 100 years ago. the illustrations by Robin Boyden help to show this in more detail.

You Have the Power offers young readers inspiring insights on resilience and self-belief from the England Lioness Leah Williamson.

Sharing her journey, Williamson shows that leadership isn’t age-limited and encourages believing in yourself. The book tackles specific challenges faced by women in football while also addressing broader issues like self-doubt and the importance of believing in oneself, which will resonate with children and young teens navigating their own life journeys and aspirations.

Williamson’s experiences, shared in an accessible and engaging way, highlight the power of perseverance, teamwork and believing in oneself.

A motivational book for children who are inspired by the success of the Lionesses.

Three of the Lionesses from the recent World Cup and Euro squads (Ella Toone, Georgia Stanway and Nikita Parris) have worked with writer Cheryl Rickman to create a book aiming to inspire children to achieve whatever goals they set themselves, learn to deal with challenges that arise and promote mental and emotional wellbeing. The three players discuss openly how they got to their positions playing for the national team and emphasise that hard work, a sense of determination and support from those around you are key in taking steps to succeed. The book also features lots of personal stories and practical tips which can apply to everyday life.

Whilst the book uses the context of football to appeal to young girls, the content and key messages are suitable for all. Readers may wish to note that it does contain references to puberty and hormonal changes in girls, so I would recommend this for age 9 plus.

This book is one to read in instalments and revisit rather than read all at once in my opinion. I feel that there are a lot of important messages that may be otherwise lost as the book is quite long. As an introduction to self-help books, this is ideal given the recent success of the Lionesses. It also signposts many organisations and charities at the end of the book which readers may wish to engage with.