article_snippet: (CNN)Football is the most widely played sport among French youths.
article_snippet: Algeria coach Christian Gourcuff, who has a coached a number of Ligue 1 clubs, notes that for a long time, women's football "was a sport totally marginalized.
article_snippet: Stereotypes abounded that the sport was too rough, too masculine for girls to play.
article_snippet: Since the late 1980s, the French Football Federation (FFF) has promoted the sport to women and girls.
article_snippet: Over the past 10 years, there has been a considerable development of the women's game," said Gourcuff.
article_snippet: Over the past decade "girls have significantly increased the level of play," Former player and ex-Paris Saint-Germain official Jean-Michel Moutier said.
article_snippet: That has changed a bit the image of women's football," Gourcuff said, "notably among young girls."
article_snippet: The professional women's league is also responsible for encouraging more girls to play.
article_snippet: I think a lot of girls want to play football," Former player and ex-Paris Saint-Germain official Jean-Michel Moutier said.
article_snippet: At ASVCM only seven out of 345 players in the club's football school are girls, and two more play with the club's youth teams in competitions.
article_snippet: While few in number, the young girls at ASVCM -- a local sports club based in a town 12 kilometers south of Paris -- are welcomed and respected, observed Catherine Ledemé, who has volunteered with the club for more than a decade.
article_snippet: The football section's president Marc Girard proudly boasted that two of ASVCM's young players are in formation with PSG's women's team.
article_snippet: More is needed, but the continued success of the women's league and national team will perhaps inspire more girls to take up the sport.
highlights_snippet: French women's football has long been marginalized, stereotyped as a sport that is too rough and masculine for girls to play .
  