Latest updates on F.C. Copenhagen's girls talent development
F.C. Copenhagen's talent department has grown from strength to strength since the club introduced specific girls teams into the set-up – and talent manager Casper Hansen is pleased with how things are progressing.
While our women's first team is battling at the top of Denmark's second division, the youth ranks are also flourishing in the capital.
Earlier this year, the Danish FA (DBU) took the initiative to have the U16 Boys and U16/U17 Girls national team players participate in joint sessions. Now, the U14 and U15 girls also participate in training for boys in North Jutland (U14) and on Zealand (U13 and U14).
Three of the four girls who participated in Zealand came from FCK Talent Girls.
"Right now, we are delighted that three of the girls in our ranks have been selected for the DBU's new joint talent development programme for U13 and U14s," says Casper.
“As mentioned, the three girls at the DBU’s joint training programme in Zealand come from our joint girls and boys team. We have previously spoken about this team, which does not participate in official tournaments, but plays competitions and primarily against boys-only teams at U14 League 2 level, in order to be matched and developed as best as possible in relation to their needs.
“The group currently consists of 16 players, and there are slightly more girls than boys, and the future will show how it develops as they get older.
“In addition, we have U13 and U14 teams that participate in the DBU leagues, where they did well in the autumn. The results are not the most important thing in those age groups, but they are also not unimportant in an elite environment where the ambition in the long term is to be able to develop our own players for F.C. Copenhagen's women's team.
"Therefore, we are pleased that the U13s won their division, and that the U14s came fourth out of six and are in the semi-finals of the cup.
“Another piece of news is that one of our girls recently participated in an official U13 match for KB Talent's boys, which has not happened before."
Joint training at ATK+
F.C. Copenhagen also offers extra training for selected groups of young players, known as ATK+. Speaking of the project, Casper adds: "In addition to the joint team, our girls and boys also train together at ATK+ (Age Related Training Concept Plus).
“Like the other joint training initiatives, we don’t see it as girls training “with” boys, but rather children training together to develop their football. Some are good at one thing and others are good at another, and it’s not necessarily linked to whether they are boys or girls.”
FC Damsø hopes for the C League
Meanwhile, there are hopes FC Damsø will soon be promoted from the Women’s Series East to the third tier of Danish football. For that to happen, F.C. Copenhagen Women will need to secure promotion to the top flight this spring, as FC Damsø are considered the women's second team.