Daisy Stokoe: Meet the Yorkshire woman determined to create the next generation of Lionesses

But with no girls’ team in her town growing up, her friends’ Dad was forced to set one up from scratch, just so she and others her age would have somewhere to play the game.

Now aged 18, and with women’s football seeing a stratospheric rise in popularity, the Whitby teenager has landed the job of helping other people realise the same dream she had all those years ago.

A keen cricketer and footballer from a young age, Daisy grew up around sport and played for various teams before earning her current positions playing football for Sunderland’s Women’s U23s and cricket for Yorkshire Women’s first team.

On top of that, the youngster has now been appointed as Middlesbrough College’s FA Women’s Football Development Officer (Apprentice), tasked with creating a sustainable increase in participation in women’s football within Further Education.

At the college, she’s working alongside a team of ex-professional and expert coaches to develop the women’s football academy and has big goals in mind.

She said: “I’ve loved sport, particularly football, for as long as I can remember and always wanted to play like my brother and dad, but women’s football wasn’t anywhere near as popular as it is now.

“In fact, there were no girls’ teams in my hometown growing up and so a friend’s dad started one so just so I could play. I then played for Scarborough Ladies, and Middlesbrough before signing for Sunderland.

“I always knew I wanted a career in football, on or off the pitch, and was applying for university when I spotted the FA apprenticeship. It sounded perfect.

“I already coach at a local soccer school on a Saturday morning and felt like this was a great opportunity to develop my skills even further – and I’m already loving it.

“We’ve recently entered into a local college league and have fixtures every Wednesday which is giving the team the opportunity to play alongside each other and build their confidence.

“We won our first game, which was amazing considering some of the team had never played an actual game before. We’re making real progress and can’t wait to see how far we can get.”

Daisy works at the college full time, taking one day a week to study towards her apprenticeship qualification. As well as coaching, her new role sees her visit local schools and build relationships with other organisations, including Middlesbrough Football Foundation.

Middlesbrough College launched its Sports Academies programme in 2012 and now operates academies in seven different sports, offering specialist coaching to develop sporting excellence, nurture talent and aid personal development.

The academies are staffed by ex-professional players and national coaches who have all played at the top level in the UK or abroad and now pass on their skills to more than 130 students.