England stars to wear sign language shirts at Wembley ahead of Women’s Euros qualifier clash with Sweden

LUCY BRONZE hopes Lionesses wearing shirts emblazoned with sign language will help the push for football to become more inclusive for fans who are deaf.

England’s stars will don British Signing Language tops during their warm-up at Wembley ahead of playing Sweden tonight.

England Women’s Deaf Futsal team skipper Zara Musker met with Rachel Daly and the Lionesses this week

Millie Turner, Georgia Stanway and their team-mates will wear training shirts featuring British Signing Language fingerspelling

The names on the training shirt for each Lioness will be shown in the BSL’s fingerspelling alphabet.

The move comes at a time when an estimated 1.2 million UK adults are living with severe hearing loss which affects most conversational speech.

Full-back Bronze, who has 119 caps, said: “As footballers, it is important to use our platform to spread messages of inclusivity wherever possible.

“I, together with the rest of the team, will be proud to wear these shirts ahead of our game against Sweden at Wembley.

“Anything that can be done to help the deaf community feel more welcome in football is an important step.”

England’s warm-up shirts are being worn as part of the ‘Support. It’s In Your Hands’ campaign launched by the FA and mobile network EE.

And the shirts worn by players will be auctioned to fans via the network’s Instagram page with proceeds going to the Royal Association for Deaf People.

Among the guests at tonight’s game will be staff from England’s deaf women’s futsal team.

Squad members will be presented to fans at half-time along with players and staff from the nation’s blind women’s squad.

On Tuesday England Women’s deaf skipper Zara Musker joined the Lionesses at St. George’s Park to help boost the connection between the teams.

And she and Sam Gough, who captains England’s blind women’s side, shared accounts of their sporting journeys with Rachel Daly and Alessia.

Musker, who is a clinical audiology scientist, said: “My goal is to be the role model I never had. 

“There wasn’t anyone doing what we’re doing now.

“There wasn’t anyone playing at a high level with a hearing loss, there was no one that I could look at.

“That was always a question you get growing up – ‘Who’s your role model?’ – and I never had an answer to that.

“It’s not really about us anymore, it’s about the young kids that are going to see this inclusion and be like, ‘We can do that as well.”

Tonight’s match could see Bronze, 32, battling her Barcelona team-mate Fridolina Rolfo.

The forward, 30, has netted 28 goals in 83 Sweden appearances.

She added: “Fridolina had to have (knee) surgery after the World Cup but she’s back fully fit at Barcelona.

Tonight’s game could see Sweden’s Fridolina Rolfo go up against her Barca team-mate Lucy BronzeAlamy

“She’s a player that I enjoy playing against in Barca training, she’s strong, physical, powerful and Potentially there could be a little rivalry on the pitch in terms of our positioning.

“I do think there’s a nice rivalry between us and Sweden.

“I know when I’ve been playing (against them), even before Sarina was here, we’ve always had a good rivalry in tournaments.”