What a season for growth in women’s football. Arsenal are the UK’s front-runners by Michelle
The last year has brought significant changes and growth to women’s football in the UK, and throughout Europe, as large stadiums have been filling up and attendance levels have been steadily increasing across the board.
At the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, Chelsea defeated Manchester United in front of a record-breaking crowd of 77,390 fans, setting a new world record for a women’s domestic match. The attendance of 77,390 at the FA Cup final marked a significant increase from last season’s 49,094, setting not only a record crowd for a Women’s FA Cup final but also a world record for a women’s domestic match.
The European Championship 2022 last summer attracted significant crowds throughout the tournament, and a total of 574,875 people attended the matches across the country by the time England emerged as the champions. This shattered the previous tournament record of 240,055 supporters at Euro 2017 held in the Netherlands.
“The legacy of this tournament is a change in society. We have brought people together, brought people to games. We want people at WSL games,” Lionesses captain Leah Williamson told the BBC.
Former England defender Alex Scott said: “Back in 2018, we were begging people to host the Euros games in their stadiums. So many people said no. I hope they’re looking at themselves and thinking they weren’t brave enough.
“I’m not standing up at corporate events begging for them to get involved in the women’s game. If you’re not involved, you’ve missed the boat. You’ve missed the train, it’s finally left the station, it’s gathering speed.”
Arsenal set a new WSL attendance record in September 2022, in front of a crowd of 47,367 fans at Emirates Stadium, when they beat Tottenham Hotspur Women 4-0 in the North London derby, smashing the previous record of 38,262 set back in 2019.
Arsenal set a new Women’s Champions League attendance record on 1st May 2023, when they sold out Emirates Stadium. Arsenal Women, led by manager Jonas Eidevall, have played a key role in breaking attendance records, and they once again took the spotlight for the Women’s Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg, with an official recorded attendance of 60,063.
Arsenal Women played all of their Women’s Champions League matches, as well as 3 WSL home matches at Emirates Stadium this season, all of which recorded attendances of over 40,000, and Arsenal have stated that they will play 5 WSL matches at Emirates in the coming 2023-24 season.
As our Gunners continue to break records, and play more of their home games at Emirates, are you happy, as a fan, to go to Emirates more often? What, if anything, will you miss about Meadow Park?
COYGW!!
Follow Michelle on Just Gooner Women on Twitter for regular updates on the Arsenal Womens Team!
Do you want to read more about the Arsenal Women’s Team? Click here….
