UEFA's new six-year strategy for the women's game has set a target of six fully professional leagues by 2030 and will commit to one billion euros (£834.8million) of investment.
The governing body is also aiming to make football the most-played team sport for women and girls in every UEFA country by 2030, by which point it also hopes to have 5,000 fully professional players employed across all leagues in Europe.
That would bring the total up from 3,049 fully professional players in 2023-24, when there were three fully professional leagues in operation across Europe, including England's Women's Super League.
UEFA defines a professional player as one with "a written contract, (who) is a full-time paid employee and does not need to supplement their football income".
Since UEFA last released a women's football strategy in 2019, it has seen the total annual investment by UEFA member associations rise to 164m euros (£136.9m) in 2022-23, a 20 per cent increase from 2019-2020.
The total budget of the top 20 women's clubs in Europe reached 174.2m euros in 2023-24, while European clubs spent 4.8m US dollars on international transfers of players in 2023 – an 85 per cent increase on 2022.
UEFA also saw a 157 per cent increase in Women's Champions League viewership between 2021-22 and 2023-24, with 17 clubs breaking their Champions League attendance records between those years.
The new strategy also places an emphasis on improving player welfare provision and strengthening the pipeline for players, coaches and referees, including the launch of a continent-wide talent ID programme.
Nadine Kessler, UEFA's women's football chief, writes in her introduction: "In spite of our successes, the record-breaking achievements, the significant growth and the pioneering strides of many national associations and clubs, the game still has developed to varying degrees across the continent.
"There are still persistent challenges and obstacles to overcome. In some countries, women and girls continue to face significant barriers to participation, and even with the game's rapid rise and over 3,000 fully professional players, many more still struggle to make a viable living from the game.
"Our achievements signal an exciting new era, and while our current 'purpose over profit' mission remains, the goal must be to make profit to drive purpose or, put simply, to be financially sustainable and reinvest back into the game, to establish the women's football industry."
