Hearts Women to become semi-professional
Hearts have announced that their Women's team is going semi-professional, and have already offered a number of players contracts through to next Summer
Last updated 28th Mar 2022
Hearts Women are set to become a semi-professional team.
The SWPL 1 side are following in the foot-steps of city rivals Hibernian in offering a number of players contracts.
These deals will last through until next Summer, and the club says more changes are to follow.
They hope the change, bringing them in line with a number of other clubs in the league, will help attract players.
Manager Eva Olid says she’s driven and energised as standards are enhanced on and off the park.
“The merger with the SPFL gives us possibility and the aspirational goal of having a professional future for Hearts Women,” she said.
“Our aim of having professional players, focused entirely on competition instead of working jobs or studying.
“My vision for the women’s game in Scotland is that we reach a stage where every team is in the same position under a professional league. This will make the game more competitive and balanced, and the differences will not be as big as they are now with the gaps in resources.
“Since I have arrived here, I have seen the difference increased training has made to the team. They couldn’t create many opportunities to score but we have now seen a big change in attack and their style of play with the ball. Our next task is to find that balance, but I am confident that we will make the adjustments and our future will be very bright.”
The club's sporting director Joe Savage said:
“We absolutely needed further professionalisation for the women’s team. They’ve been working on a voluntary basis for a long time, so if we wanted to take the next step as a club and attract a better calibre of footballer – we need to start paying players
“The club created a budget for this year, and we’re going to be adding more to that for next season. Eva and her staff have done a really good job so far, and we think there’s more to come because of how she operates and develops players.
“The squad now comprises of young ladies, and this year will be a great learning curve for them and an experience, but we also want to be as competitive as we can.”
Having overseen changes across all levels in his time at the club, Joe will continue his work alongside Eva to install and grow a new footballing infrastructure and pathway at Hearts Women - with the vision set to span across the next few years.
“We’re realistic. We know about the resources that the Glasgow sides have, but that’s the benchmark we should aspire to if we want to be a top four or five club. We’ve got belief in Eva and her ideas to do that."