It was announced on Saturday (1st of June) evening that the Pompey Women will be turning to a full-time, professional playing model as of the start of the 2024/25 season.
Following the side's recent promotion from the FA Women's National League - Southern Premier Division to the Barclays Championship, Pompey Women will now have the ability to offer professional playing contracts for the first time in the club's history.
This announcement comes just a year after the team were transitioned to a semi-professional setup with the Tornante Company's involvement increasing and the side coming fully under the umbrella of Portsmouth Football Club.
As well as those on the pitch benefitting from this move, there will be groundbreaking improvements happening off of it too. The appointments of a general manager/head of football, a women's safeguarding and player welfare officer and a sales and marketing executive will also come to fruition over the course of pre-season.
Speaking with the club's media team, PFC CEO Club Andrew Cullen said: "After winning promotion to the Championship and having our licence granted by The FA, we are now absolutely thrilled to announce that Pompey Women will become fully professional.
"This is an exciting time for women's football in Portsmouth and across the United Kingdom and I am grateful to Jane and Michael Eisner, and the Portsmouth Women board, for their increased investment in our women's team.
"This will have a huge impact on our competitiveness in a higher division, as well as enabling our players to achieve their dreams of becoming professional footballers for the first time in their lives."
Head coach Jay Sadler told Express FM: "Overall it's just a significant step forward for the football club and it demonstrates the owners' commitment to excellence."
You can take a listen back to the full conversation held on this subject from Monday's (3rd of June) instalment of The Football Hour, on which host Jake Smith sat down with Matt Drabble and Pompey Women director Eric Coleborn to talk about this news, with Jay's thoughts also included:
Pompey's 2024/25 Barclays Championship season will commence on the weekend of Saturday the 7th & Sunday the 8th of September.
Jake Smith will be presenting all of the latest Portsmouth FC news, rumours and speculation every Monday and Friday evening between 6-7pm on The Football Hour, sponsored by StageCoach South.
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