Should Emirates Stadium be home to Arsenal Women too, after historic night? by Michelle
Although Arsenal failed to get the result they so desperately desired (and in my opinion, deserved) at Emirates Stadium on 1st May Bank Holiday, against Wolfsburg, they did create a record-breaking evening at N5. With an officially recorded attendance of 60,067 at Emirates stadium, Arsenal Women set a few new records:
- Highest ever attendance for an Arsenal Women match
- Highest ever attendance at a UK club match
- Highest ever UK attendance at a Women’s Champions League match – in fact highest ever attendance outside of Barcelona’s Camp Nou, which has a capacity of 90,000+
Should Arsenal Women be playing more games at Emirates Stadium, or should Emirates be the club stadium for both the men’s and women’s teams? Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema put it very nicely in an interview a month ago saying:
“We’re one of the examples for clubs because we’re doing it well. We play a lot of games there and we get a lot of people in. I think we need to keep pushing for it and we deserve it. People always say it’s the men’s stadium, but in the end, it’s the club’s stadium. We should use that and all push for it in that sense.”
Eidevall himself said, during his pre-Wolfsburg press conference, after the news that Emirates was a sell-out.
“For me, it is about consistency and how we maintain it. I hope we look back on this in history that we see it as one of the starting points where this became a regular occurrence. We have taken every opportunity since I have been here to go to the Emirates. That has always been the preference to go there.
“First to say that the more we play there, the more it feels like home, but also to say, it gives us the platform and foundation to spread our game to more people. That is so important and we see the benefits of that now.”
Arsenal’s next match is on Friday 5th May, when they return to WSL action against Leicester City, live on Sky Sports, kick-off 19:30 UK. This match is back at Meadow Park..
What are your thoughts? All Arsenal Women matches should be played at Emirates? All UWCL matches and anticipated high-attendance WSL matches should be played at Emirates?
COYGW!
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Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….
