The Football Association (FA) has announced BT will be the founding partner of a major, new commercial programme for women's soccer in England, reports SportsPro. As part of the package BT's new BT Sport network will be the exclusive UK broadcaster of FA Women's Super League matches.

It will also be a sponsor of the Women's Super League, England's women's national team and the FA Women's Cup.

An FA statement said BT would 'play a pivotal role to support The FA in delivering its five-year strategic plan 'Game Changer', which aims to drive the game forward at every level'.

Simultaneously, the FA has confirmed that the Women's Super League, which was launched in 2011, will expand next year to include 18 clubs and, for the first time, two divisions.

Stuart Turner, the FA's commercial director, said: "We are delighted to have such an established brand as BT associated with the women's game.

"In BT we have the perfect partner to help take the game forward over the next four years, both as a new and innovative broadcast partner for The FA WSL in BT Sport, and a commercial partner supporting women's football."

Simon Green, the head of BT Sport, added: "We are delighted to sign this partnership with The FA to develop women's football and to build on the sport's recent success.

"We are also really pleased that we'll be broadcasting live matches from The FA WSL on ESPN and BT Sport, which we feel gives us some fantastic women's sport throughout the summer, which is a major focus for us."

The Women's Super League is currently broadcast on ESPN's UK channel, which was acquired by BT in February.