Sunderland and England duo Beth Mead and Rachael Laws helped kick-off FA Girls’ Football Week at the opening event in the North East on Monday.
The players visited Sunderland College and met 100 students took who part in football sessions.
More than 60,000 people will take part in FA Girls’ Football Week, which was created to give girls and women more opportunities to play the game.
Girls' Football Week
Mon 10 Oct - Sun 16 Oct 2016
Find a session near you
Or join the discussion using #WeCanPlay
Over 1,000 organisations including schools, clubs, further and higher education establishments and community groups will put on sessions throughout the week.
Striker Mead said: “It is so important that women and girls are given the opportunity to play and today showed just how popular it can be, given the chance.
“It is impressive to hear how many people will be taking part in FA Girls’ Football Week and hopefully they’ll all enjoy the week and keep playing afterwards.”
Beth Mead couldn't resist joining in at Sunderland College
Lucy Oliver, an FA WSL referee and sports development officer at Sunderland College, said: “I’m really pleased that so many girls and schools took the opportunity to embrace 'We Can Play' and that Sunderland College has helped them come together for this tournament. It provided a forum for some fantastic football.
“I’d like to thank the Sunderland Ladies, who are shining examples of what can be achieved with hard work, determination and talent.
“Hopefully they will have inspired one or two future England internationals and others to sign up for their local teams.”
Organisations can still register via FAGirlsFootballWeek.com, where they will be able to access a range of materials including session plans and ideas and promotional tools.
The week is being delivered in partnership with the Independent Schools FA, English Schools FA, Association of Colleges Sport, British Universities and Colleges Sport, the Premier League and the English Football League.
Football is the largest female team sport in England with more than 2.89m players. There are more than 5,900 women’s and girls’ teams playing affiliated club football.
Girls' Football Week competition
Share your favourite Girls’ Football Week photos on Twitter, mentioning @FA and using #WeCanPlay to enter.
The best photo will win a signed Lionesses shirt and four box tickets to the England v France match on Friday 21 October.
The competition will run until Sunday 16 October and the winner will be announced on Tuesday 18 October.
Please take note of the competition’s terms and conditions.
