by Kadeem Simmonds at Wembley Stadium

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION chief executive Martin Glenn admitted yesterday that it will be easier for Mark Sampson to win the World Cup with the women’s team than it will be for Gareth Southgate to do the same with the men.

Sampson led the Lionesses to the World Cup semi-final in Canada in 2015, losing 2-1 to Japan after a last-minute own goal from Laura Bassett.

Glenn was speaking at the FA’s strategy for women’s and girls’ football launch, which aims to double female participation by 2020.

The aim is to now capitalise on the 2015 World Cup run, with the winning of a major tournament the end goal and Glenn can see Sampson achieving that goal before the men can add to their 1966 triumph.

FA chair Greg Dyke famously said in 2013 that the men’s team “should aim to reach the semi-finals of Euro 2020 and win the World Cup in 2022.” However, Glenn believes it is more likely that the women reach those targets by 2023.

He said: “It will be easier for the women to win because it is still a less competitive game. There are fewer countries playing elite women’s football so the pool is just smaller.

“In Fifa, there are 211 countries. There are very small ones but there are a lot of players, the leagues are global so countries that have a weak global league can send their best players to play abroad.

“It will be technically easier because right now the development of the game is the same level. For any team to win a men’s world cup is really something because of the level of competition.”

Glenn understands that doubling the number of women playing the game is a “scary task” but knows it can be done, an idea shared by FA participation and development director Kelly Simmons.

The FA estimates that 2.05 million adult women play football, but only 900,000 girls aged five to 15 — compared to 6.46m men and 2.44m boys.

For Simmons, increasing those numbers means getting girls into football at a younger age and keeping them involved in the sport.

She said: “Part of our commitment is about getting every girl who wants to play the game the chance to play and enjoy it.

“To do this, we really need to understand the barriers which prevent the girls from playing football and find out what will attract girls to keep them in the game, while ensuring that football is introduced in schools at the right age, before they are switched off from sport and think football is for boys.”