Pop superstars, Little Mix, are looking for recruits to drive support for the England Women’s team ahead of this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro in the Netherlands.
In a video featuring their hit-single Salute, football fans Perrie, Jesy, Jade and Leigh-Anne call for women, girls and football fans across the nation to unite and show their support for England’s Lionesses by submitting a salute on social media using #Lionesses.
Launched by the band on Instagram, Salute was chosen for its empowering and inspirational message and reflects The FA’s ongoing objective to grow women and girls’ football domestically. Alongside Little Mix, the video features a number of football cameos including Lionesses captain Steph Houghton, world number two freestyle footballer Liv Cooke and amateur female footballers.
The Lionesses hope to build on their third-place finish in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup and, after a string of victories in 2017 including over the world number one ranked USA, the team is targeting victory in the Netherlands with the help of Little Mix to help engage fans around the country.
The 23-strong England Women’s team fly to the Netherlands on Thursday 13th July, facing Scotland in their first group game on Wednesday 19th July followed by Spain and Portugal.
The Lionesses are calling on fans around the country to show their support for the team by capturing an image or video of their salute and sharing it alongside a message of support on social media using #Lionesses. For more information, visit www.TheFA.com/ForGirlsand follow @Lionesses on Twitter and Instagram.
On working with the Lionesses, Little Mix said:
“When we wrote Salute we wanted to convey a message of all women being united, something we know all fans are when supporting England. Being England fans ourselves, we jumped at the chance for Salute to help unify support for the Lionesses. The World Cup a few years ago was massive for the Lionesses and they have smashed it since so hopefully the support will help them go all the way this summer.”
England Women’s captain, Steph Houghton added:
“The support of our fans is vital to everything that we do – we always play for our country and our fans. Since the World Cup in 2015, we’ve all experienced an increase in the interest in women’s football which has led to more and more fans supporting the team. It’s amazing that we are now able to work with the world’s biggest girl band, Little Mix, to help grow our fan base even more at such a key time and hopefully this will help us bring home the trophy in August.”
Marzena Bogdanowicz, Head of Marketing and Commercial – Women’s Football, said:
“Little Mix are one of the biggest pop acts in the world and we’re delighted that they are supporting the Lionesses this summer. As part of Gameplan for Growth, our pledge to double the number of girls playing football, we need to inspire the nation through the Lionesses performances on the pitch but also through working with individuals relevant to girls and it doesn’t come much bigger than Little Mix! The Salute campaign is one that we know will help to unite the nation behind the Lionesses and we are confident that this will help to drive the team and help build the team’s fan base further.”
The Salute project comes as part of a wider campaign by The FA, For All, launched earlier this year which sets out to double the number of girls playing football by 2020 in its Gameplan for Growth.
The FA’s new ‘For Girls’ digital platform has been launched ahead of this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro as a hub to follow the Lionesses this summer and get more girls into football. The new, mobile-first site, developed in partnership with the digital transformation leader Cognizant is informative and inspirational for both parents and their children.
