SCOTLAND'S women footballers will today receive further encouragement in their bid to qualify for the 2015 World Cup.

Shona Robison, the sports minister, is expected to announce a financial package which will provide impetus to the players' already impressive start in Group 4.

The announcement at Fir Park, on the eve of tomorrow's qualifier against Northern Ireland at the same venue, is expected to benefit up to 14 players. The breakthrough comes exactly one year to the day after Gemma Fay, the Scotland captain, called on the Scottish Football Association to give the players professional contracts in line with their counterparts in England.

That plea was prompted by the national side's agonising failure to qualify for Euro 2013 when Spain scored with the very last kick of the ball in last October's return play-off match in Madrid. Fay made the point that, unlike the Spanish players, most of the Scottish squad were holding down full-time jobs while training five nights a week and committing to strength and fitness programmes before arriving for work.

Although the SFA were unable to provide the contracts, Robison has come up with a solution. While it will be tailored for individual players, the principle is that they will work considerably fewer hours but continue to be paid their current wages. The Scottish government has provided sportscotland with funds to compensate the employers, whose agreement has been crucial.

Among the squad, Rachel Corsie and her Glasgow City team-mate Suzanne Lappin are accountants; experienced Rangers midfielder Megan Sneddon pounds the streets as a postwoman in East Kilbride; and goalkeeper Fay, who plays her club football with Celtic, is a partnership manager with sportscotland.

Players who are on professional contacts outside Scotland will not benefit. That group includes Kim Little, one of three Arsenal players in Anna Signeul's squad; Lisa Evans, who is with Turbine Potsdam; Jenny Beattie, who plays for Montpellier; and the three players contracted to Swedish clubs - Hayley Lauder, Jane Ross and Ifeoma Dieke.

Despite often competing against full-time players, Scotland's results and performances have continued to improve. They are at their highest Fifa ranking, 20th, and lead Group 4 with maximum points and 14 goals from their opening two games.

They will now have more time to train and, just as importantly, rest. Jess Fishlock, Glasgow City's Welsh midfielder who is full-time and on loan from Seattle Reign, is in no doubt her current team-mates will benefit from today's development.

"Giving the body, and also the mind, time to recover is essential when you are playing at Champions League and international level," she said. "Although they probably don't realise it, players like Rachel Corsie have been putting huge demands on themselves."

The intervention by Robison reflects not only the wish to have a team from this nation competing in a World Cup for the first time since 1998, but also the belief of the Scottish Government that a winning women's team can encourage more girls and young women to become involved in sport.

The under-17 side could perhaps do with all the help they can get, since the draw for next month's European Championships in England placed them in Group B alongside Germany, France and Spain. Pauline Hamill's side will open their campaign against the Germans at Hinckley on November 26 and that will be followed with a match with Spain three days later and France on November 2. The top three teams in the tournament will qualify for the Under-17 World Cup next March.