The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) on Wednesday announced it was set to launch a campaign to encourage women to make football the most practised sport in Europe by 2022.
The step, UEFA said, was being taken after a study found that female players have higher levels of self-confidence.
The study, conducted by UEFA and a group of specialists to find out the effect of football on the psychological and emotional aspects of females, depended on data provided by 4,128 girls and women aged 13 and over from six countries -- Spain, England, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Turkey, reports Efe citing a posting on the UEFA website on Wednesday.
The research confirmed that football has a greater impact on self-confidence, self-esteem, feelings of fellowship and motivation for teenage girls than other sports.
The most important conclusion of the study was that female football players have more confidence than those who do not play and also more than those who are engaged in other sports.
The figures provided by UEFA said that 80 percent of teenage girls showed more confidence due to playing with a football team, compared with 74 percent of those who practice other sports.
Some 58 percent of the teenagers have overcome lack of self-confidence when playing football, compared to 51 percent of girls who play another sport.
UEFA, which will launch the "Together #WePlayStrong" campaign in June, referred to the expansion of women's football since launching the program in 2010, and has helped in having 16 teams for the first time in the UEFA Women's Euro tournament, which is set to be held in the Netherlands this summer
--IANS
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