Everton's Izzy Christiansen hands out new kits to schoolgirls in Altrincham

Sports correspondent David Chisnall joined former Everton and Manchester City star Izzy Christiansen as she paid a special visit to Oldfield Brow Primary School.

A primary school's girl's football team received a training session from former Manchester City and Everton player Izzy Christiansen.

The midfielder from Macclesfield paid a visit to Oldfield Brow Primary in Altrincham to hand out a brand new kit to the squad, while also delivering a football masterclass.

Izzy said: "It's been the most heart warming experience, the excitement when they got the new kit and now they're out now just playing in the glorious Manchester sunshine. It's been a great experience."

Not only did the team get a new kit, they also got to see the Premier League trophy up close.

The school is one of 700 across the North West to benefit from the Premier League Kit Scheme, which hopes to encourage more girls to get into football.

As well as handing them their new kits, Izzy also led a training session for the team.

Izzy said: "I think having their own kit they feel great in it, they feel confident. I think it just eliminates the barriers that potentially are there for girls to start taking up football."

Thanks to the success of the Lionesses, the number of girls and women's teams across the country has doubled since 2017.

For Izzy, it is a sign that women's football is here to stay. She said: "When I played at Primary school there was maybe one or two girls playing. Now you're out here this morning and there's probably over 20 girls playing football which is just incredible.

"It's exactly where this game needs to be from the very bottom to work upwards and who knows who could be inspired."

For the future-lionesses at Oldfield Brow, the new kit and the training from Izzy has only further encouraged them.

One girl said: "It feels like I'm an actual football player. It's just such an honour to be wearing this kit with our logo on it."

Another added: "Meeting Izzy was really fun because I always used to watch her on TV. I always used to say to my friends that I always wanted to meet her because I liked how she played for City and England."

After winning the Women's Super League and the Champions League, the 32-year-old retired at the end of the 2022/23 season.

In 2016, Izzy Christiansen was named the PFA's Women's player of the year. Credit: PA

Since then, she's been training to become a qualified coach.

She said: "The path hasn't been easy, I've had to work really hard behind the scenes to graft out the opportunity to complete my licences, I've just applied for my A Licence.

"I think it's important and my passion and enthusiasm for the game comes from the coaches I've been inspired by."

Alongside training to be a coach and handing out kits, she's also training for the London Marathon, where she'll be raising money to tackle bowel cancer.

She said: "18 months ago I lost my aunty in her fifties to bowel cancer just purely because of not recognising the symptoms early enough.

"My fundraising is all targeted around early diagnosis and symptom checking of Bowel Cancer UK to essentially save peoples lives.

"Just raising the awareness is what I want to do and if I can help one person then I'll be happy."

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