Melbourne Victory launch women’s and girls’ development fund to improve pathways for female footballers

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Melbourne Victory women’s and girls’ development fund
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Melbourne Victory have announced the launch of a women’s and girls’ development fund to contribute to the growth of female football in all aspects of the game.

Victory are supporting this fund through female-specific projects that run across all levels of football, which is in line with the club’s key values of prioritising community participation and pushing towards gender equity in the sport.

The fund will help improve the pathways for female footballers within the club, provide educational opportunities for female coaches and administrators, and improve female football infrastructure and activation projects.

Former Melbourne Victory player Marco Rojas donated in May earlier this year, in support of women’s football for the club and this initiative comes off the back of it.

Melbourne Victory Managing Director Caroline Carnegie stated the Club’s goal is to lead, unite, connect, and inspire through football and the Female Development Fund is an important step in delivering the Club’s vision for the women’s game.

“Melbourne Victory wants to contribute to growing and enhancing the women’s game and supporting the growth and development of females in football, wherever they sit in the football community,” Carnegie said via Victory press release.

“Part of this is ensuring accessibility to the women’s game off the back of the Women’s World Cup and supporting the development of women to make the greatest impact on our game.

“This is the reason we decided to make our home games at the Home of the Matildas free for patrons to experience and support the A-League Women’s (ALW) team for the 2023/24 season and why the fund will be important to our success in the women’s space.

“We’ve worked to remove the financial barriers for anyone who was inspired by WWC23 to continue to enjoy watching elite domestic football and to give our young boys and girls every opportunity to see their stars in action week in, week out.

“The other factor that we know is key to growing the women’s game is investment which is needed at all levels of the game to develop the next generation of talent and to continue to grow and build participation levels in football.

“We see our strategy around making the ALW accessible, along with the launch of our Female Development Fund as the beginning of the journey and we’re encouraging others to contribute in a meaningful way through our Fund.

“We would love to see anyone attending our games to consider making a contribution to the fund in lieu of purchasing a ticket and also anyone passionate about women’s football to help us bridge the gap and build the future of the women’s game together.”

Melbourne Victory have ensured that all donations and any collaborations with partners and sponsors in the women’s space will be invested back into women and girls’ projects. A clear sign that they are trying to drive momentum into further growing that side of the game.

Eventually, the wider football community will be able to apply for specific grants in order to help improve their own female football situation.

The initiative to improve women’s and girl’s football is a brilliant one, off the back of record-breaking Liberty A-League membership numbers and the Matildas’ success in front of the entire nation.

Creating that foundation is absolutely vital is ensuring that the model is sustainable, and that Victory can continue to produce fantastic talents like they did with World Cup star Kyra Cooney-Cross.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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