Laura McAllister, vice-president and deputy chair of the UEFA Women’s Football Committee, is at the helm of a bold new initiative to propel women's football in Europe to unprecedented heights. The recently launched six-year strategy, titled "Unstoppable," aims to capitalize on the sport's growing momentum and address the unique challenges it faces.
Women's football in Europe is at a pivotal moment. The past five years have seen remarkable growth, with record-breaking attendance, lucrative broadcast deals, and increased investment. However, the development has been uneven across nations, leading to a lack of competitive balance and persistent barriers to participation and professionalization for many players.
"What we’re trying to do with the strategy is steer it in a way that produces maximum benefits for everyone, for all 55 member nations, rather than just letting it grow laissez-faire and benefiting the few," McAllister explains. The strategy is built on four key priorities, including making Europe the home of the world's top players and transforming football into the most sustainable and investable women’s sport on the continent.
One of the most ambitious goals is to establish six fully professional leagues and have 5,000 fully professional players across all leagues by 2030. Currently, there are only around 3,000 professional players spread across 52 domestic leagues, with approximately 20 leagues lacking any professional players.
To achieve these ambitious targets, UEFA has pledged to invest €1 billion (\$1.093bn) in the women's game by 2030. This funding will come from multiple sources, including a new five-tiered sponsorship structure for the Women's Champions League and significant investment driven from men's competitions.
McAllister acknowledges concerns about the women's game relying on the men's game for financial support but believes this is a necessary step to play catch-up after decades of underinvestment. "The women’s game can’t be as transactionally successful as the men’s game for now," she says. "But it’s all framed by the idea that women’s football, certainly by 2030, can become a €1bn industry in itself."
UEFA is also committed to keeping player welfare at the heart of its decision-making processes. This includes addressing the congested fixture schedule, which is set to become even busier with the launch of a new second-tier club competition in the 2025-26 season.
"We haven’t got this nailed in the men’s or women’s game at the moment and it is so important to do that," McAllister says. "You can’t keep piling games on players, male or female, then expect them to be injury-free and perform to the top of their game. It’s just not feasible. But there are no easy answers either because somebody’s got to compromise."
In addition to these challenges, UEFA must navigate the unique relationship between women's football and social advocacy. As the game grows, so too do the expectations for it to take a stand on political and social issues. McAllister believes that involving players early on in decision-making processes is key to addressing these tensions.
One method of doing so is the establishment of a dedicated women’s football board, which met for the first time in September 2023. From May 2025, players will also be represented on UEFA’s executive committee for the first time, with the potential for voting powers in the future. A second female-designated seat on the executive committee will also come into effect in April.
McAllister, who is also leading UEFA’s gender equality committee, sees these steps as progress towards addressing the gender disparity within the governing body. "To deliver an ambitious strategy like Unstoppable, we need to have agency from women and women’s voices at every decision-making table," she says.
With the Unstoppable strategy, UEFA is charting a course for women's football that is bold, ambitious, and uniquely tailored to the needs of the women's game. As McAllister puts it, "We don’t have to copy the men’s game. We can take the best bits, but we can shape our strategy in a way that is exclusively geared and unique to the women’s game at the same time."