SUFFOLK is gearing up for the first Women’s Football Weekend to be held this weekend.

This is set to be another landmark moment in the growing popularity of the women’s game following on from nearly 78,000 spectators attending last Saturday’s international between England and Germany at Wembley Stadium.

With the men’s international weekend creating a pause in the Premier League and EFL calendars, The FA are calling on supporters to capitalise on the opportunity to back Women’s Football Weekend and to attend a women’s match at any level in the pyramid.

The weekend, which will become an annual event, will see some mouth-watering fixtures.

Among the highlights is the north London derby, as Tottenham Hotspur take on Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Liverpool and Everton will battle it out for Merseyside bragging rights at Anfield while Chelsea face Manchester United.

The FA Women’s Championship promises to be equally as exciting with an all-capital affair in the shape of London City Lionesses' match-up with Crystal Palace, with early pacesetters Durham facing London Bees. There will also be a full league and cup fixture schedule across the rest of the football pyramid.

Suffolk FA Girls’ & Women’s Football Development Officer Rebecca Bolton said: “To add to this locally Suffolk FA will be announcing the coming together of our Female Leadership Academy sponsored by McDonald’s, who will be using steering groups to discuss and help develop and promote the opportunities for females to take on roles within football clubs across the county.

“Keep an eye out on social media over the weekend to see who will be making up this work force, including some inspiring individuals who already work within football in the county and internationally.

“Each member of this group has requested to be a part of this group and will be giving up their spare time to help females in the county get to where they want to be in football, due to their love of the game and their passion to promote roles within football to females.

“One of our new members, Freya Louis, has created a campaign called #WeAre which is being launched on Saturday in line with the first Female Football Weekend and we urge everyone who is within the female game or champions girls’ and women’s football to get behind this campaign.

“The plan is with help from each of you in the county we can help to make this a national campaign for girls and women all across the country.

“This is such an exciting time for girls’ and women’s football, so let’s get behind it together and really drive female football in Suffolk.”

Action is pictured above from last season's HomeStore Suffolk Women's Cup Final between Ipswich Town (blue shirts) and Needham Market (red shirts) at Portman Road.