Women's football is making headlines with England's success at the European Championships – and Premier League side Bristol Academy hope bringing the men's World Cup to Bristol in 2018 will further build on the game's remarkable progress.

Bristol is playing a key role in the burgeoning sport of women's and girls' football which is now the country's fastest growing sport and the largest women's team participation sport, with more players competing in affiliated competition than any other, according to the Football Association.

England women surpassed the recent achievements of the men's team by reaching the final of the European Championships yesterday with a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands at the Tampere Stadium in Finland.

Bristol has the chance to host up to five matches in the men's football 2018 World Cup if selected by the England 2018 team to be part of their bid to stage the tournament.

And the city's leading women's side, Bristol Academy, are eager for that ambition to become a reality in the hope, and knowledge, that the presence of such high-level and high-profile competition within the city limits will inspire more and more people, men and women to take up the sport.

The Academy is one of two centres of excellence for women's football within the Gloucestershire FA's area, and sports 80 players from the age of eight to 16 who now feed into the senior side.

There has been a 54 per cent growth in women's football across the world since 2000 according to FA figures and between the Gloucestershire and Somerset FAs there are now more than 250 women's and girls' teams in and around Bristol.

"We've got one of the best set-ups in the country," Bristol Academy manager Mark Sampson told the Evening Post, while adding his support to Bristol's 2018 campaign.

And the club have three young England stars to prove it. Left winger Colly Short, 17, and central midfielder Amber Grove, 18, have both been called up to the England Under-19 squad and 16-year-old midfielder Jasmine Matthews has made the England Under-17 squad.

Last season's club captain Corinne Yorston was one of the first women to receive a central contract from England and now plays for Arsenal Ladies.

"I think any event which gets more kids into football is great, and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to watch a World Cup," said Sampson.

"We've got a young team and a lot of them would go and watch, and learn.

"From my point of view, being involved in football, (the World Cup) is the pinnacle of the sport. To have an opportunity to do that as a player, coach or a fan would be fantastic."

As a Welshman Sampson, 26, has not had the opportunity to follow his national side in a World Cup, let alone travel to one. And despite being based in Cardiff and commuting to training at the Filton WISE campus he more than welcomes the World Cup carnival coming to his home town's Severnside rivals.

"From my point of view, I think people from Cardiff would head over," he said. "It will be a long time before it comes near again, and with Bristol being so close it is such a great opportunity."

The residents of Cardiff are well-versed in the celebration which surrounds big match days, with the annual Six Nations fixtures at the Millennium Stadium and, while the new Wembley was built, the FA Cup and play-off finals.

"It will be similar to the Six Nations, if Bristol gets it," said Sampson. "There will be a big buzz around the whole city.

"If they get the new stadium that can be a spring board for big events to happen on a more regular basis here and it will get more people supporting local football and more people through the gates for us.

"We're all striving to improve our image and get people interested.

"Because Bristol doesn't have a Premier League side (in the men's game) people tend to go off and support someone else as well as their local team. Big events like the World Cup coming here would get people focusing more and more on the teams here in Bristol and help push them on."