The representatives of the 200 FIFA member Associations of Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) attending the 4th FIFA Women's Football Symposium unanimously agree to:
Congratulate the FIFA Executive Committee and the Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup on having taken the initiative to organise the fourth FIFA Women's Football Symposium for FIFA's member associations
Acknowledge the enormous boost that women's football gives to the sport of football in terms of participation, opportunities to compete, spectators, television viewership as well as the huge improvement in standards of play
Express satisfaction to FIFA for its decision to establish the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup (to commence in 2008), for its decision to expand the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup tournament from 12 to 16 teams, for establishing a coordinated international match calendar for women's football, as well as thanks to the IOC for expanding the women's Olympic football tournament from ten to 12 teams
Express satisfaction with the fifth FIFA Women's World Cup, and to the organisers of the tournament, the Chinese LOC, which set new standards in the quality of women's football and women's refereeing, and to recommend to FIFA that it consider expanding the FIFA Women's World Cup from 16 to 24 teams in the future, thereby giving more countries the opportunity to compete at the highest level as well as stimulating further growth in the game
Recommend to FIFA that it continue to place more emphasis on creating opportunities for women to serve in football, including increasing the number of women on its committees, notably the FIFA Executive Committee and the FIFA Referees Committee
Recommend to FIFA that it increase the minimum percentage of financial assistance allocated to women's football from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.
and to commit themselves to:
• Building partnerships by calling on governments, in particular
sports, health and education ministries, to discuss how their
objectives can be realised through football and especially football
for girls and women
• Establishing women's football development plans and
developing the funding strategies to achieve them
• Creating or reinforcing structures in their associations to
support the development of women's football and to provide it
with the necessary human and financial resources, as well as the
commitment from the associations' leadership to ensure its
success
• Establishing grassroots programmes in schools, communities
and clubs, to create more opportunities for girls and women to
participate in football
• Establishing or reinforcing football competitions at
national and regional levels to give young women and girls the
opportunity to continue to develop their skills in the sport
• Promoting the inclusion of women in technical committees,
executive committees, and in leadership roles in their
administration
• Promoting the development of female coaches, referees,
administrators and executives as role models for women and girls,
thereby sustaining the growth of the sport
• Building awareness and promoting women's football in
the media by creating the necessary networks and structures to
facilitate its coverage
• Taking the initiative to dismantle cultural or social
barriers to women's and girls' readiness to participate in
the sport of football, and to take whatever actions are necessary
to promote the acceptance of football as a sport for women and
girls
• Empowering themselves with the knowledge gained from this
symposium and from other experiences to take the initiative to
implement the above actions
• Deciding to assess the results of their actions in favour
of women's football every four years, the next time being the
sixth FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011.
