Sylvia Gore: New cup honours England's first official goalscorer

Gore's family said she "did so much for the game, and it will be wonderful for that to be recognised"

A borough's new football competition for schoolgirls is to be named after a "sporting legend", a council has said.

The Sylvia Gore Schoolgirls Cup will honour the Prescot-born midfielder, who died in 2016, aged 71.

A pioneer of the women's game, Gore created history when she scored the first goal for an official England women's team in 1972.

Knowsley Council said the cup would follow "hot on the heels" of the Lionesses' victory in the Euros 2022.

Council leader Graham Morgan said Gore had been "a true sporting legend" and "an inspiration to so many people over the years".

"It would be wonderful if her name can live on at an event that is entirely about girls playing a game they love," he said.

Gore was a member of the first official England women's team in 1972

Known as the "Denis Law of women's football", the Manchester Corinthians and Fodens player once scored 134 goals in a season.

She also helped Fodens to a shock win over Southampton in the 1974 Women's FA Cup final.

• Original Lionesses: 'We had it rough, we had to really fight'

• How can England's Euro 2022 win help grow the game?

After retiring, she manged the Wales women's team, acted as secretary to Liverpool FC Ladies and was a member of the FA Women's Committee.

She became an MBE for services to girls and women's association football in 2013 and was inducted into the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame in the following year.

A representative of her family said they were "so proud" to have a cup named after her.

"She did so much for the game, and it will be wonderful for that to be recognised more widely," they said.

Details of the competition will be finalised in partnership with local schools and all schools in the borough will be able to sign up to get involved during the 2022/23 season.