A booklet promoting women’s football as a vehicle for empowerment and cultural understanding has been published by the Fare member organisation Discover Football.

'Claiming the Pitch – a worldwide collection of female voices and perspectives on football', is a collection of experiences and ideas from women active in football programmes and teams across the world that use the sport for social change.

Through their contributions, the manual describes the challenges that women face when involved in football, whether they are related to dealing with deeply rooted social views, religious issues or complicated political situations or social exclusion.

"The book brings together the stories of many courageous women that we met over the last years", said Friederike Faust, volunteer at DISCOVER FOOTBALL.

The book follows Discover Football’s conference on women’s football in central Asia and Europe, last December in Berlin, that pledged to develop a series of recommendations on how to support women’s football.

The handbook is available to download here.