England Women footballers should be on Match Attax cards It's a watershed moment for women's football and something to be cheered. We've certainly come a long way in the 10 years since Fifa President Sepp Blatter said the women's game could be improved by tighter shorts. England women's captain Steph Houghton on the cover of Shoot This is a grassroots success story. More than 250,000 women play regularly in England, making football the fourth largest team sport after men's football, rugby union and men's cricket. The FA is on a drive to put it in second place by 2018. The organisation (which in 2008 apologised for the 1921 ban) has, in recent years, ploughed million of pounds into the sport - boosting participation and profile. And it's working. In 1993 there were 80 registered girls" teams. Today, there are 5,143. What's more, they've got professional role-models in the form of the Women's Super League (WSL), which was set up in 2012. But it's not just the act of getting girls on to football pitches that requires attention. Other parts of the industry are lagging well behind. Take football cards. Remember them? If you ever spent any time in the playground as a child, you probably remember the constant trading, collecting, snatching and squabbling. Well, believe it or not, Match Attax cards are bought by 1.5 million children every year in the UK - the idea being that collect them and play games against your friends. With the lure of screens all around us, that's a pretty impressive figure. These cards are still reaching a significant proportion of our kids. Which makes it all the more vital that they feature female, as well as male, players. A new Change.org petition hopes to achieve just that - which we at Telegraph Wonder Women, are backing. Started by Belinda Parmar, CEO of Little Miss Geek, a campaign dedicated to helping girls change the world through technology. It's aim? To ask "CEO of Topps (Michael Brandstaedter), the company that makes Match Attax cards, to include female footballers." Says Parmar: "My 8-year-old son, Jedd, is obsessed with Match Attax Football cards. He dreams, breathes and lives to collect them. He knows every single player and all their strengths and weaknesses. I asked him recently why there weren't any female footballers on the cards and he replied: "Mummy, do girls even play football?"" Out of the mouths of babes, eh? The facts, says Parmar, are plain. For every 53 articles written about men in sport, there's one about a woman. Women's sport receives just 0.5 per cent of the total sponsorship income (men get 62.1 per cent). Oh, and the women's England football team captain, Steph Houghton (who, in October, became the first woman to feature on the cover of Shoot magazine) earns around £480 a week. Wayne Rooney? £300,000. Some of the women have other jobs. One, Fara Williams, was homeless for most of her England career and living in hostels. Can you imagine Stephen Gerrard (who the Liverpool Ladies team member has compared herself to) doing that? Liverpool Ladies (including Fara Williams, top) won the WSL last season. "We believe that if we can get Match Attax to include women footballers talked about in the playground, we can help ensure that our sons know that women also play football, and help our daughters, nieces, sisters feel like they have a role to play in the world of football and sports," reads Parmar's mission statement. Those signing her petition agree heartily. "My 7 year old daughter loves football and collects Match Attax cards," writes one. It is so important that little girls see women represented in all careers to inspire and teach them that they can do and be anything they choose. Another (a man) writes: "Empowering women in sport benefits the sport overall by opening it up to an entire new market. It's 2014, the idea of sport being "for the boys" has no place in our society." Kelly Simmons, FA director of national game and women's football, has said: "One of our biggest challenges, apart from attracting new players, is retention." A boost from merchandising companies and sponsors could be just the ticket the women's game needs. Of course, a couple of seasons and major tournaments aside, Match Attax cards only depict Premier League players. Many supporters would no doubt argue that the men's AFC Wimbledon or Watford squads deserve just as much recognition as the female players. But, as things stand, the top men are represented and the top women aren't. Surely that's a good place to start?