Captain of both Arsenal and the England team, Faye White is probably one of the most passionate football players you could ever meet.

She’s not afraid to admit that she still gets nervous before those big games and like us she thinks that it’s important for women to have female sporting role models.

Involved in all and everything football, she made her debut in the England team aged just 19, and now coaches girls in the greater London area for Arsenal FC; is a patron of the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation and has also worked as a commentator for Sky Sports, Eurosport and the BBC.

Sportsister talked to Faye about her life as one of England’s most famous female footballer.

Are you feeling quite confident that England will qualify for the European Championships this time?

Yes definitely. We qualified and hosted the European Championship back in 2005 and we had a great World Cup and got to the quarter finals. We’re currently top of our group in our qualifying campaign, having played four games and we’ve got two more games left so we’re quite confident. We already beat Spain 1-0 and we drew to the Czech Republic so we just need a win and a draw to get through.

Were you disappointed that you were not able to compete in the Olympics?

Yes massively so. Having done really well in the World Cup it was extremely disappointing. It is the three top teams in Europe who would go and we were in that third slot having reached the quarter finals in the World Cup. Obviously, but unfortunately, Great Britain doesn’t enter a football team either on the men or women’s side so Sweden took our spot out there. Just to have experienced the Olympics would have been absolutely unbelievable.

It’s the biggest sporting contest in the world and it would have been amazing to compete for our country there but unfortunately the politics of everything didn’t allow us to this time round. It’s just disheartening and quite frustrating knowing that we were good enough to be there.

There is talk of them trying to change that for London 2012, so perhaps by then you might be able to enter?

It’s another major competition we could compete in on the world stage and it would improve us as players and as a country. I think that the men’s game doesn’t need it as much but I think that the women’s game would benefit from it tremendously.

When you came back from the World Cup after having such a great tournament, do you think there was a shift in attitude with the general public or with the media?

Yes I noticed it quite a lot; I think that the other players did too. A lot more female players were asked to make appearances on TV and in magazines. Also the general public were recognising us more and there was a bit more awareness about the top players and the role models that the England women’s team offer.

Do you think that the fact that Arsenal has such an impressive record adds extra pressure at the start of the season?

Yes, we have to be quite tough on ourselves anyway because I do think that if you achieve a lot as a sports person you always want to be in it to win it, especially when you’re playing at the highest level.

You always set yourself high goals as an individual but you do as a team as well. Last year when we won the double, it wasn’t seen as an amazing achievement because the year before we won the quadruple. I think that the more you achieve the more you and other people expect.

But the thing is, the double was a very good achievement and it still shows that we’re competing and very strong. I think its going to be very competitive this year.

You played in Canada for a while. How was that?

That was the summer of 2007 just prior to the World Cup. I went out there because I was recovering from a knee injury which meant that I missed the whole season in England. The Canadian and American seasons are in the summer, so I went out there to get some games under my belt.

I played for Ottawa Fury and it gave me a good experience of what football was like over there and how differently it’s perceived.

The general attitude is that it’s good to be female and be sporty; it’s good to be achieving goals, wanting to achieve goals, being successful in sport and enjoying it.

They’re so encouraging and it’s so nice to be around that attitude and culture.

What would you say is the hardest thing about being a female footballer?

Having to juggle everything – your life, your working life and your training. When you’re playing at the top level for your country you’ve obviously got to do the training to be able to compete at that level, but also balancing that with your working life and also your social life can be difficult. There are so many demands on females these days, especially career wise.

Do you think it’s important for girls to look good while they’re training?

Yes definitely. I think that football and sport in general encourages girls to be confident and it does make them feel more self assured within themselves. If you can train and look good, it makes you feel good and then you play better.

Nowadays you have women’s kits but I remember the days when we were playing in big baggy men’s kits. It really does make a massive difference in how you feel when you’re playing, you feel confident and it’s important for women to know that just because you play sport doesn’t meant you can’t be feminine, feel good, look after yourself and dress nicely.

If you hadn’t taken up football do still think that you would have taken up another type of sport?

Yes, definitely. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t worked within sport. I wake up everyday enjoying it, wanting to train and loving it. I have a dream job!

Penelope Hill, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine

Faye White is actively involved in the Nike ‘Here I Am’ campaign which inspires a new generation of women athletes to participate in sport as a healthy body is a healthy mind.

Photo credits: Action Images and Nike

Related features:

Win a limited edition NikeWomen ‘Here I Am’ Athlete book ^[1]

Lianne Sanderson, Arsenal and England footballer ^[2]

Sportsister meets Arsenal and England’s Kelly Smith and Rachel Yankey ^[3]

Q&A Jessica Bedford, Womens Soccer Scholarship USA ^[4]