The History of Women's Football

By 4Football Staff · October 19, 2026 · 10 min read

Women have played organized football for decades, from semi-pro teams of the 1970s to modern leagues, flag football's Olympic debut and women on NFL sidelines. A guide to what is documented.

Ask a casual fan about the history of football and you will hear about Walter Camp, Red Grange and famous bowl games. Women rarely appear in that story, which can leave the impression that they only arrived on the field recently. The truth is more interesting. Women have been playing football in organized ways for generations, mostly outside the spotlight, in leagues that had to find their own fields, buy their own equipment and persuade local newspapers to print a score.

The record of that history is thinner than the record of the men's game, and some of the early details are hard to confirm. This article sticks to what is reliably documented, says plainly where the sources thin out, and ends with practical information for anyone who wants to play.

A note on terms before we start. "Women's football" in this article means American football played by women, whether tackle, flag or touch. It does not refer to soccer, which is called football in much of the world and has its own long history of women's play.

The forms women's football takes

The sport comes in several forms, and the history differs for each.

• Tackle football is the full-contact game with pads and helmets. Women's tackle leagues use rules close to those of the men's game, usually with eleven players a side.
• Flag football replaces tackling with pulling a flag from a ball carrier's belt. It is played with fewer players, often five or seven a side, and has been growing fastest in recent years.
• Touch football is an informal version where a touch with the hand stops the play. It is the version most people have played in a backyard.
• Playing on men's teams. Some women and girls have played on boys' or men's teams, typically at the high school level and sometimes in college, often as kickers but also at other positions.

Each form has its own milestones, and they overlap. We cover the high school story in more depth in Girls and Women in High School Football, and the college and staff side in Women in College Football.

The early decades: scattered and poorly recorded

It is natural to ask who played first, but the honest answer is that nobody knows for certain. Scattered newspaper reports from the early twentieth century describe women's games, often as exhibitions, fundraisers or novelties. Some were touch or flag-style contests at schools and colleges. Others were billed as curiosities. The surviving records are thin, the rules were not standardized, and a game that was called football in one account might look more like another sport in another.

What these accounts do show is that interest in women's football did not begin with modern leagues. It was there early, but it lacked what any sport needs to last: a stable organization, regular schedules and a way to recruit and keep players. Without those, the games remained one-off events rather than a continuing tradition.

The 1970s: the first sustained leagues

The first generation of sustained women's tackle football in the United States emerged in the 1970s. The change in context mattered. In 1972 Congress passed Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. Title IX did not mention football, and it did not create women's football teams. What it did was change the national conversation about opportunities for women in sports, and it led schools to expand athletic programs for women over the following decades.

Outside the school system, women formed their own teams and leagues. Semiprofessional teams appeared in cities in Ohio, Michigan, Texas and elsewhere, and regional and national organizations formed to organize schedules. A team from Toledo, Ohio, the Toledo Troopers, is among the best-known names of that era. The players were not paid salaries comparable to men's professionals; many played for small stipends or for no pay at all, held other jobs, bought some of their own gear and traveled by bus or car. Attendance was modest, and press coverage was limited.

The leagues of this period tended to be fragile. Teams folded when money ran out, owners moved on, and organizations merged or disbanded. But they established something important: a continuous presence of women playing full-contact football, and a set of players, coaches and organizers who carried the tradition forward.

A new wave around the turn of the century

Beginning in the late 1990s, a new generation of leagues formed. Several organizations were founded around the turn of the century, and by the late 2000s the largest of them, the Women's Football Alliance, had grown into a network of teams across the country. We do not give team counts or dates for every league here, because the lists change and sources conflict; if you need precise figures, check each league's own site.

This wave differed from the first in a few ways. Communication had improved, so teams could find each other, schedule games and promote themselves online. Equipment was easier to buy. Players also tended to be a mix of lifelong athletes who had played other sports and newcomers who joined after seeing a game or a friend's team. As in the earlier era, the typical player had another job and treated football as an expensive passion, paying fees and sometimes raising money for travel.

The lingerie league and an argument about image

A separate chapter began in 2009, when a league launched that put women in a seven-player indoor format but in uniforms that were deliberately revealing. It attracted attention and television coverage, and it also drew criticism from players, fans and commentators who argued that it presented women as spectacle rather than athletes. It was later rebranded and restructured more than once. The episode is part of the history because it shaped how some people in the public thought about women's football, and because it prompted many tackle players to emphasize that their leagues were about competition. Whatever one thinks of it, the contrast between the two approaches has been a recurring topic in the sport.

The international game

Women's football is not only an American story. The International Federation of American Football, which governs the sport worldwide, began organizing a women's world championship in 2010, and national teams from Europe, North America and beyond have taken part in tournaments since. Flag football has an even wider international footprint, and has been played competitively by women's national teams in a number of countries.

For the international game, the main limitation has been funding. National teams often rely on players paying their own way to tournaments. That is a theme across the history of the sport: the talent and interest are real, but the infrastructure is thin.

Women on men's teams

Alongside the leagues, some women have played on men's teams. The most common path has been kicking, where the skill is less dependent on size. In 1997, a kicker at Willamette University, a small college in Oregon that competed in the NAIA, kicked two extra points in a game, and it is widely recorded as the first time a woman played and scored in a college football game. A few years later, a kicker at the highest level of college football became the first woman to score in a Division I-A game, as that level was then called.

At the high school level, girls have played on boys' teams for decades, at positions ranging from kicker to lineman to quarterback. Rules about whether girls may play on boys' teams in a contact sport vary by state and by school, and some states have rules about participation on separate teams. To learn the policy where you live, contact your state association or school district. You can also use our high school directory to find schools.

Women in the NFL

The professional league's history includes women as owners, executives and staff for many years, but the first decade of the current century saw a gradual increase in women in on-field roles. A few milestones are well documented:

• In 2015, the league hired its first full-time woman official, Sarah Thomas, and in the Super Bowl played in early 2021 she became the first woman to officiate the game.
• In 2015, Jen Welter worked with the Arizona Cardinals as a coaching intern during training camp and the preseason, and she is widely described as the first woman to hold a coaching position with an NFL team.
• In 2016, Kathryn Smith was hired by the Buffalo Bills as a full-time assistant, working with the special teams, which is widely described as the first full-time coaching position held by a woman in the league.
• Katie Sowers worked as an offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers and in the Super Bowl played in early 2020 became the first woman to coach in the game.

These are only a few examples. There are many women working in scouting, analytics, athletic training, equipment, broadcasting and the front offices of teams, and the lists change. Our piece on the NFL front office describes the roles in more detail.

Flag football and the Olympics

The most visible change in recent years has been the growth of flag football. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee approved flag football as a medal sport at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, with tournaments for both men and women. The decision gave the sport a new platform and drew attention from sponsors, national federations and schools.

At the high school level, a growing number of states have recognized girls' flag football as a sanctioned sport, and the National Football League has supported youth and girls' programs. Sanctioning rules differ by state and the list keeps changing, so ask your state association. The growth matters for the history because flag football has lower barriers to entry than tackle football: it needs less equipment, fewer players and less money. It is also a way for girls to learn the game and, in some cases, to earn college opportunities. Our Play section explains how recreational flag football works.

Equipment, safety and medical care

Safety deserves its own mention, because it affects who can play. Full-contact football requires properly fitted helmets, shoulder pads and other protection, and equipment sized for men's bodies does not always fit women well. Many women's teams have historically bought used or donated gear and had to adapt it, and manufacturers have gradually offered more options. Leagues also differ in whether they require pre-participation physicals, carry insurance and have an athletic trainer or medical staff on site.

None of this is unique to women's football, but it matters for anyone choosing a team. Ask about the league's medical requirements, its concussion policy and the qualifications of the coaches before you sign up. For general guidance on concussions and injury risk, speak with a doctor or athletic trainer, and follow the rules of your league or school.

What remains hard

Even with the growth, women's football faces challenges that men's programs mostly do not.

• Funding. Many players pay fees, buy equipment and travel at their own expense.
• Visibility. Games rarely get regular local coverage, and national coverage is rarer.
• Facilities. Teams often rent fields at times that suit others first.
• Insurance and safety. Tackle football carries real injury risk, and leagues must manage insurance, medical coverage and the availability of athletic trainers.
• Pathways. There are fewer organized routes from youth football to the adult game for women and girls than there are for boys and men.

None of these is unique to football, but they explain why the sport's history is more about persistence than about records.

If you want to play

If you are interested in playing, here is a simple approach.

1. Start with flag football. Local parks departments and recreational leagues often have women's or co-ed divisions.
2. If you want tackle, look for a team in a women's league near you. Teams usually welcome beginners and run tryouts or open practices. Ask about fees, insurance and the medical requirements.
3. See a doctor before starting any contact sport, and ask a coach or trainer about proper fitting equipment.
4. Learn the rules for your level. Our teams page and Play section are good places to start.

A timeline

Common misconceptions

"Women only started playing football recently." Women have played organized tackle football since at least the 1970s, and informal games are older.

"Women's football is only flag." Both flag and full-contact leagues exist, with different rules and communities.

"Title IX created women's football." It changed the environment for women's sports in schools, but it did not directly create football leagues.

"The NFL has always excluded women from the field." Women have held many roles in football for decades, but on-field coaching and officiating positions are a more recent development.

The short version

• Women have played football in organized ways for generations, but early records are scattered and poorly documented.
• The first sustained women's tackle leagues emerged in the 1970s, in the context of Title IX and growing interest in women's sports.
• A new wave of leagues formed in the late 1990s and 2000s, supported by online communication.
• Women have played on men's teams at the high school and college levels, often as kickers.
• In the 2010s, women took on coaching and officiating roles in the NFL.
• Flag football was approved for the 2028 Olympics, and growth at the high school level continues.
• Funding, visibility and facilities remain the main challenges; check local leagues and your state association for opportunities.