Rachel Pavlou is the Women's Development Manager for EDI, History and Heritage at the

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

(FA) in England and the Crown Dependencies of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

and the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. She has helped the development of women's football at the FA since 1998. Pavlou helped the implementation of the

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

and has managed both the FA participation and talent development programmes. She is a panel member of the Hall of Fame for both the FA Women's Super League and the

National Football Museum The National Football Museum is England's national museum of Football in England, football. It is based in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, and preserves, conserves and displays important collections of association football, football ...

. Pavlou is a trustee of the Aston Villa FC Foundation, and she is a FIFA Women's Football development expert. Pavlou played football at primary school alongside boys and was chosen for football trials as a seven-year old. She was subsequently brought into school with her parents and told by her headteacher that "over his dead body" would she ever play football in a boys' team and that she should instead play "girls' sports". She has since described the altercation as a "completely and utterly defining moment".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavlou, Rachel The Football Association Women's Super League Living people British sports executives and administrators Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Women association football executives