What does the future hold for Women's football?

In this edition of Football Now, we are celebrating International Women's Day, and it's only fitting that we take a moment to recognise some of the huge strides and achievements women have made in the game.

Let's take a look at how the future of women's football is being redefined by breaking the Bias.

In the early 20th century, women's football had impacted the game both on and off the pitch.

1895: The first recorded women's football match takes place in London.

1920: The first international game is played.

1920: Later that year, 53,000 fans watched a game at Goodison Park in Liverpool.

1921: Women were banned from playing by the English Football Association.

1938: Women are banned from competing in France, Spain, and Brazil. Other nations soon followed.

According to activist and author Sue Anstiss, the ban must have affected those who participated.

"When you think now about the passion for sport, to have that taken away from you, your livelihoods. The joy you have for the game and an opportunity to play must have been devastating for them at the time. It took such a long time to get the ban lifted. We know now how that's held the women's game back for so long. But hats off to those trailblazers who worked so hard to get the game back being played for all women and girls."

1971: England and Europe lifted the ban on women's football.

1984: Sweden wins the first European Championship.

1991: China hosts FIFA World Cup for the first time.

1996: The Olympics Committee welcomed female football.

1999: 90,000 spectators attended the FIFA Women's World Cup Final in the United States.

2009: Copa Libertadores women's tournament begins in South America.

2016: FIFA appoints Fatma Samoura as first female Secretary-General.

2019: USA win the World Cup