Arsenal Women have agreed a partnership deal with AFC Leyton FC that sees the smaller club named as a ‘sister club’.

Based in Waltham Forest, AFC Leyton currently offer girls between the ages of 5 and 17 the chance to train professionally. Chairman, Steve Hodges, believes the partnership will help the club expand their coaching.

“Becoming a member of the sister club programme reflects our passion, commitment, and ambition to help to grow women and girls’ football at a local level,” Hodges told the East London & West Essex Guardian.

We want to give AFC Leyton girls unique experiences and inspire more girls to join in, have fun and reap the many benefits of a team sport such as football.”

Tom Hartley, Arsenal Women’s development officer added: “We are very proud to work with and support AFC Leyton to develop girl’s football.

“It is a really exciting time to be involved with the Women’s game in England, and we hope the support we provide will help inspire the next generation of Arsenal & England stars”.

The Arsenal Women FA WSL Sister Club Programme is “one of the biggest and wide-ranging women & girls club support programmes in the country,” and the club had 18 Sister Clubs prior to this latest agreement.

Arsenal state the aims of the programme as:

  • Inspiring every girl to love the game
  • Supporting grassroots coaches with skills & confidence to create the right environment for girls to play and get better at football.