Elite girls’ soccer in Wales has just come to the end of a transformative season – the first in which the Football Association of Wales (FAW) Trust Girls’ Academy u14s and u16s squads competed against boys.

When this plan was announced in April 2021, Lowri Roberts - head of women’s and girls’ football at the FAW, and the spearhead behind this new approach - said: “Our aim is simple; to provide more best-v-best opportunities in training and games for our most talented girls.”

She was just as committed to that goal last month, when I caught up with her and colleague Kat Lovett, the girls’ age-group manager at the FAW Trust, who is leading the programme in south Wales.

Both refer several times to “developing the next Jess Fishlock”, the first Wales player to earn 100 caps for the national team.

And it is this high-end achievement the two organisations have set their sights on.