The top European leagues are the envy of the football world. Quality comes from hard work and the club academies are at the heart of this, with both infrastructure and high level coaching crucial. For two decades UEFA and domestic club licensing systems have set minimum standards which have been actively and annually assessed for compliance. No youth development plan, not the required level of coaching qualifications, not the requisite level of competitive youth teams – then simply no UEFA club competition access. Learnings from the mens’ game have been used to help develop womens’ club licensing and this is already helping to raise standards in European club and national team womens’ football.