Retired England footballer Karen Carney says Sky Sports commitment to the Barclays Women's Super League will help the game "continue to grow and grow and grow".
Karen Carney at the FIFA 23 Women's Football Summit
The 35-year-old former Birmingham City midfielder is part of the sports broadcaster's punditry team and on the back of The Lionesses' UEFA Women's Euro 2022 win interest in the WSL has never been greater.
Karen insists the more women's games that are shown the bigger the sport will become and she says Sky Sports are doing so many positive things to help the game grow.
Speaking at the 'FIFA 23' Women's Football Summit, she said: "I think Sky having the WSL has been huge, they’ve gone after it, they’ve made it part of their portfolio of football and that’s epic and I’m sure it will continue to grow, they’ve only had it one year. It will continue to grow and grow and grow."
Karen - who represented England at four FIFA Women's World Cups in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 and at four UEFA Women's Championships in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017 - says "exposure is key" to building on The Lionesses' trophy success.
And the television expert the insists the inclusion of the Women's Super League and the French Division 1 Féminine on new EA Sports video game 'FIFA 23' - which features Chelsea women's player Sam Kerr on the front cover alongside Paris Saint Germain striker Kylian Mbappé - is a massive step forward for the women's game.
She explained: "Exposure is key. Even if you don’t watch football but you play the 'FIFA' game you’re still educating yourself on the players, they’re still in your living room, and it’s still football, they’ve got a rating, you know who they play for, you know their positions, you know their strengths, you know their weaknesses, it’s an educational piece as much as a game.
"For me, that improves the profile of the players and the sport. That’s what we want. For 10 million people to have it in the first week to play is incredible. It will only get bigger."
As well as breakdown WSL games, Karen is also a regular pundit on the Premier League games broadcast by Sky Sports and she has been delighted with the response from all football fans to the inclusion of female pundits for men's matches.
Karen - who will be part of the ITV punditry team for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 - said: "I’ve not seen any kick back. It’s been really good, I’ve really enjoyed it."
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