- Lionesses to wear British Sign Language training tops in warm up at Wembley
- England are in action on Friday against Sweden as in a European qualifier
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England’s Lionesses will wear a set of British Sign Language training tops ahead of their European qualifier with Sweden on Friday night.
The shirts, created with EE, in partnership with The FA, will seen in the warm up ahead of the clash at Wembley.
Each jersey will display the player’s name in the BSL fingerspelling alphabet in a bid to celebrate British Sign Language and act as a visual reminder of how football can be made more accessible to all fans.
It comes as data reveals that while an estimated 1.2 million adults in the UK have hearing loss severe enough to impede most conversational speech, there are approximately only 150,000 BSL signers (87,000 of whom are deaf).
The warm-up shirts form part of ‘Support. It’s In Your Hands’, a campaign launched by EE, to keep the BSL users in the deaf community involved in the football conversation by encouraging the use of sign language in both deaf and non-deaf communities.
England’s Lionesses will wear a set of British Sign Language training tops against Sweden
Rachel Daly (right) checks out the warm-up shirt that England will wear in their warm up
The shirts display the player’s name like Georgia Stanway in the BSL fingerspelling alphabet
Talking ahead of the game the Lionesses Lucy Bronze said she and the team will proud to wear the warm-up shirts before the match with Sweden.
She said: ‘As footballers, it is important to use our platform to spread messages of inclusivity wherever possible.
I, together with the rest of the team, will be proud to wear these shirts ahead of our game against Sweden at Wembley.
Anything that can be done to help the deaf community feel more welcome in football is an important step.’
Sarina Wiegman’s team kick-off the defence of their European crown with the qualifier against the Swedes as they look to become the first English side to ever retain a major trophy.
Bronze won back-to-back Champions Leagues at the club level with Lyon, but told the FA that it would be an even bigger achievement to do it with her country.
Lucy Bronze is aiming to win back-to-back Euros with the national team in 2025
Skipper Leah Williamson could make her long awaited return to action on Friday night
‘Obviously we want to qualify for the EUROs and that is the goal with this campaign. But I think the long-term goal would obviously be to win the tournament.’ stated the 32-year-old.
‘We go into every tournament wanting to win it, but that would be a special part of history; to be a team that could potentially go back-to-back in a tournament.
‘It’s difficult in any tournament, whether it’s the Champions League [in club football or not], but it would be a next-level achievement to do that on an international stage.’
Wiegman is without goalkeeper Khiara Keating, who has returned to Manchester City, but could call on her England captain Leah Williamson for the first since before last summer’s World Cup.
Football fans will be able to get their hands on a player-worn British Sign Language shirt via EE’s Instagram channel while EE will also raise money for the Royal Association for Deaf People through an auction of these unique ‘Signed Shirts.’
The FA will also be inviting players and staff from the England women’s deaf football team to attend the Sweden fixture in the Royal Box and be presented to fans at half-time in recognition of their third place finish at the 2023 World Deaf Championships in Brazil.