The 23-year-old joined Manchester City in January from South Florida Bulls. When the South Shields-born defender travelled Stateside in 2011 the brand new FA WSL was just getting started, but since then it has grown into a huge success – and Stokes believes it provides female footballers with a great stage to perform.
Birmingham v Manchester City
The FA WSL 1
2pm, Sunday 29 March
Solihull Moors FC
Tickets available here
“It was a shock to me when I came back” she admitted to TheFA.com. “I knew the game was growing, but I didn’t realise how fast it was - it’s really nice to see.
“There are a lot of opportunities within the league. It’s my first season playing in it and I’m really looking forward to getting started.”
Stokes, who has just helped Mark Sampson’s side win the Cyprus Cup earlier this week, added: “People were leaving the country as they felt the opportunity wasn’t there, but now I think that they will stay here in the WSL because it’s a great stage.
“There are so many opportunities there and the league is strong. You don’t know who will win the league and that’s exactly what you want.
“It’s down to players getting better here in England, and that means that the standard of the league will continue to get better, so there’s still a lot to gain from it.”
Stokes will be hoping to make her WSL bow when she and her new team-mates travel to Birmingham City to kick-off their league campaign on Sunday 29 March.
