Team from Shorne, near Gravesend, to make Women’s FA Cup debut away to Herne Bay Women

An all-female football club are readying themselves for a maiden appearance in the Women’s FA Cup.

XL Football United, based in Shorne, are due to begin their road to Wembley for the first time when they visit London & South East Regional Division 1 South side Herne Bay in the First Qualifying Round tomorrow.

Their senior team have an average age of 17 and they have become the first in the club’s history to secure a spot in the competition.

Teams need to progress through 11 stages if they are to make it to the Final.

South East Counties Football League Premier Division XL Football will take to the pitch in their new kit which promotes children’s hospice Demelza and Kent Reliance, an award-winning savings provider.

Founder and director of XL Football, Stuart Grist, said: “It’s a huge achievement for the team to make it into the FA Cup for the first time.

“The players pour so much effort into their training and this is an amazing opportunity for them to have a taste of how their career path can progress.

“Women’s football has very rightly been bought into the spotlight over recent years and now football is seen as a very real career option - something that all female football clubs across the UK and beyond have been working for over a long period of time.”

Families from Demelza will be special guests at the cup tie (3.15pm kick-off).