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FA director of women's professional game Kelly Simmons is to 'step back' from her role after helping make the Women's Super League fully professional from the start of the 2018-19 season and breaking attendance figures last September

Kelly Simmons is to step back from her role as the Football Association's director of the women's professional game this summer and will leave the organisation next year.

Simmons, who started work with the FA in 1991, took up her current role overseeing the women's football pyramid in September 2018, having previously been director of participation and development.

The Women's Super League was fully professional from the start of the 2018-19 season and developments since have included deals with Barclays as title sponsor and Sky and the BBC to broadcast live matches.

A WSL record crowd of 47,367 watched Arsenal beat Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium in September and Simmons - in December - said the league was averaging almost 6,000 fans a week, up by over 200 per cent from the same time a year earlier, with the Championship average attendance up by over 85 per cent.