This Girl Kicks encourage girls to play football and have fun together

English G18 team This Girl Kicks has arrived.

This Girl Kicks is an English initiative aiming to let teenage girls play football and make friends through the sport.
– Women's football is growing all the time and it's fun to take part in the development, says the player Amelia Hart.

Getting to Gothenburg proved to be a minor adventure.
– Our flight got cancelled in Manchester. We travelled to Bristol, but the flight got cancelled there as well. We then had to travel from London. Everything tried to stop us from getting here, but we made it. I'm very happy to be here, I don't want to be anywhere else, says Amelia Hart.
She's been with the team for four years.
– It's a good organisation and I've got good teammates. It's a nice and very welcoming team. We're close in the team, we're very good friends. We develop and we have fun together.

Coach Gary Barrell tells us about the background of the club.
– We encourage girls to play football. The project started in 2017 and began with a trip to New York. We have teams from 15-year-olds, up to 19-year-olds.
Friendship and creating a sense of community are at the heart of what the club is about.
- We care about the friendship  and you don't have to be the world's best football player to join the team. It's as important that you are a good person. If you're really good at football but behave like an idiot, you're not welcome in our club, says Gary Barrell. He continues:
- This Girl Kicks is for players who are humble, hard working and want to make friends through football and travel around the world and play against like-minded players from Europe and North America.
After some struggles, they've finally arrived in Gothenburg.
– We tried to come last time, but then the Gothia Cup was canceled. We're very happy to be back in the Gothia Cup after playing here in 2019.
The Girls 18 team play in the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League and have won a few national tournaments. They cooperate with several organisations which makes it possible for their teams to play in tournaments in several countries.
– The U17 team goes to tournaments in Lisbon and Glasgow, the U18 team competes in Dallas and the Gothia Cup and the U19 team will play in Dublin and New York, says Barrell.

Amelia Hart has faith in her team.
– I hope that we can win some games and go far in the tournament.
The team arrived on Thursday so it's their fourth day here.
– It's a fantastic experience. I love that we're back in the Gothia Cup. It's a wonderful tournament, Amelia says.
She of course also hopes England does well in the European Championship.
– England is doing well. Hopefully we will reach the final - if we are lucky!