Basingstoke Football Club has launched its female football programme as executives hope to inspire women into football.

Last year, England made it to the semi-finals in the World Cup with rising stars like Lucy Bronze and Toni Duggan - and now the search is on for the next generation of stars, here in Basingstoke.

Club chairman Terry Brown is leading the initiative, which will see girls teams at under 8s, under 9s and under 10s, as well as an adult team, come under the BTFC banner.

The teams are registered to play in the Hampshire Girls Youth League and the Hampshire County Women's Football League.

Terry Brown said: "Being a true Community Club means making football accessible for all and the next step is to start our women's football program and it is going to be fantastic to be able to this from the coming season."

He continued: "It has always been a plan of ours to ensure that we had this offering, as women's football is booming at the moment and for our club not to have a Women's set up isn’t right, so we are proud to be able to start this off now and look forward to welcoming new players to the club."

The move has also been welcomed by the town's MP, Maria Miller, who said: "I am delighted to hear that the Women’s Football program has begun.

"Women’s football is going from strength to strength and it is great that Basingstoke Town Community Football Club is taking an active role in developing the women’s game."