SCOTLAND are going to the World Cup. This is not a collection of words you see assembled together very often in the context of our national football game.

Where the men’s team have failed so utterly for the past 20 years, the women’s team have prevailed.

This has been no small feat. Where the men’s game is awash with cash, the women’s game is still not fully professional. It was heartening, then, to hear last week that the Scottish Government has stepped in with a funding boost to allow all of the squad to train full time for next year’s tournament in France.

Home-based players who are not professional combine work with playing for leading sides such as Glasgow City and Hibernian.

But around £80,000 of funding will mean Shelley Kerr’s squad will be full-time from January until the tournament in June.

“This is great news for everyone in Scottish women’s football,” Kerr said. “On the back of such a monumental achievement in qualifying for the World Cup, the positivity around the women’s national team has been amazing.

“We need to continue to generate support, and hope as many people as possible come out to support us in France next year.”

Nineteen of the 23 players in the squad Kerr named for the final two qualifiers against Switzerland and Albania are already professional.

But squad regulars Jo Love, Leanne Crichton, Hayley Lauder and Lee Alexander (all Glasgow City) and Hibernian pair Joelle Murray and Jenna Fife play in the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL), which is almost completely amateur, meaning players have to juggle work or study commitments with family life and training.

Glasgow City midfielder Love, 32, is one of Scotland’s part-time players and balances her day job with the demands of football.

She explains: “Some days I’m out the house for 12 hours between training in the morning, going to work then training at night.

“The manner the Scottish players train is nothing short of professional, it’s really just the time to dedicate 100% every time we’re there.”

At a time when the poor state of our health, both physical and mental, regularly makes the headlines, all measures to widen the boundaries of sport participation must be welcomed and actively promoted. In a world where sport is a megabucks money-go-round, it’s fair to suggest that £80,000 is a small price to pay if our women footballers can encourage young girls to get into sport and fitness.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, a patron of the Scotland women’s national team, believes their World Cup qualification has created a “watershed moment” for the game in Scotland.

The story last week that Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle had stepped out in a frock costing two grand and even managed to close her own car door – to the consternation of new and old media – puts into context the modesty of the sum awarded to support the Scotland squad. And it may well open doors for young women.

We’re on the march with Shelley’s Army!