Richard Scudamore: ‘England’s women will win the World Cup before men’

Premier League chief executive believes Women's side are closer to success than their male counterparts

England manager Roy Hodgson alongside Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore (Getty Images)

The Premier League boss, Richard Scudamore, famed for his inscrutable dealings over TV rights, is much more forthright on the subject of women’s football. With little over a month to go before the Women’s World Cup launches in Canada, he reckons that the England women’s team will become World Cup winners before their male counterparts.

“Yes, yes, I can see that. The reality is I can,” he said. “I think the women’s team is going into the tournament ranked 8th and the bookies, who are not often wrong, have them at 20-1. That’s about where the the expectancy is when our men go into tournaments.

“Canada is exciting and I think it’s going to be interesting to see the TV audiences for it. I think it could be a time when we could really see some interesting take up.

“It’s indisputable that the women’s game is growing, is being encouraged to grow and we are doing our bit through clubs and through building a huge layer of interest at the bottom through grassroots. I’ve said: ‘No-one is more committed to the women’s game than we are’.”