From record attendances to huge attendance figures, the growth of women’s football in England has been rapid in recent years.
The success of the Lionesses on the pitch has fueled a surge in interest in the sport and while there is still room for improvement, the progress off the pitch over the past decade cannot be understated and is likely culminating in a record crowd for a women’s match. in England when the hosts take on Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley on Sunday.
BBC Sport identifies six key moments from the last 10 years that took the English women’s game to where it is today…
“A Whole New Level”
Highlights: Great Britain – Brazil 1-0
It was a moment described by BBC commentator Guy Mowbray as having the potential to take women’s football “to a whole new level”.
Almost a decade ago, 70,584 spectators turned out at Wembley Stadium to see Team GB beat tournament favorites Brazil 1-0 at the 2012 Olympics, becoming the biggest ever crowd watched a British women’s international at home.
It broke the previous record for a women’s match in England, set on Christmas Day 1920 in a match between Preston Dick Kerr Ladies and St Helens Ladies at Goodison Park, by more than 17,000.
The record lasted just over a week, with 80,203 in attendance nine days later for the Olympic final to see the United States beat Japan at Wembley.
This remains the highest for a women’s match in England. The Lionesses’ record crowd for a home international was broken in 2019 when 77,768 watched them lose 2-1 to Germany in a friendly at Wembley.
‘In love with lionesses’
Fara Williams, now a BBC pundit, scored England’s 2015 semi-final defeat by Japan.
In 2015, Mark Sampson’s side became the first England team to reach a World Cup semi-final since Italy 90 with a historic last 16 win over Canada in Vancouver.
Despite the 00:30 BST kick-off, more than 1.6 million people tuned in to watch the win, heralded by FA women’s director of football Kelly Simmons as “the moment in that the general public fell in love with lionesses.”
Sampson’s side lost to eventual winners Japan in the last four, but in the third-place play-off England recorded a historic victory over Germany through Fara Williams’ extra-time penalty.
Moves were already being made off the pitch to keep the momentum growing behind the women’s game. The Women’s Development Programme, launched in 2013 and supposed to last for two years, secured an extra year of joint investment between the FA and Sport England of around £3.7m to get thousands of women and girls more participate in football.
The program originally aimed to attract 40,000 new female players to soccer, but exceeded that goal by more than 2,000 in its first two years.
When the FA’s three-year ‘Game Plan for Growth’ strategy ended in 2020, it was estimated that more than 3.4 million female players were involved in the game.
Defeat in semi-finals breaks viewing records
England’s comprehensive semi-final victory over Sweden was watched by a peak television audience of 9.3 million on the BBC, but the record viewing figure for a Lionesses match was set three years ago.
A peak audience of more than 11.7 million tuned in for their heartbreaking World Cup semi-final loss to the United States in 2019, breaking all-time qualifying records for the third time in the slot fifteen days
These remarkable figures surpassed the combined digital and television total of 11.3 million who watched the 2019 Men’s Champions League final between Tottenham and Liverpool in Madrid.
The previous women’s record before the 2019 World Cup was four million viewers, set during the Lionesses’ Euro 2017 quarter-final loss to the Netherlands.
More fans, bigger spaces
A record crowd watched the Manchester derby in September 2019
Aiming to boost the growing interest in the women’s game following the 2019 World Cup, Manchester City and Chelsea have taken the decision to move their opening 2019-20 Women’s Super League matches to the Etihad Stadium and Stamford Bridge, respectively.
The first WSL Manchester derby at City’s main stadium – which ended in a 1-0 win for the hosts – was seen by a record 31,213, while 24,564 turned up the following day to see Chelsea host Tottenham, London’s rival.
City’s head of women’s football Gavin Makel said the club wanted to start the new campaign “with a bang”, while Chelsea described the move as a “celebration of women’s football”.
The WSL opening day record for the 2019–20 season was broken again in November of that year when 38,262 turned up for Spurs’ 2–0 defeat of northern rivals London, Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, a WSL record that still stands. today.
FA announces ‘false’ TV deal.
In March 2021, the FA announced a three-year deal with the BBC and Sky, believed to be the biggest of its kind in any professional women’s football league in the world, for the broadcasting rights of the WSL .
The £7m-£8m deal runs until 2024 and, according to Simmons, combines two of the FA’s key priorities: increasing the league’s visibility and attracting investment to further develop its quality.
“It’s one of the biggest deals commercially, certainly for women’s soccer in terms of a national deal, and up there for women’s sport,” Simmons said of the deal, which contributed to a “fourfold ” of viewing hours in 2021. 22 compared to the previous campaign.
“This is a moment to celebrate, a key moment in the future of the WSL,” added FA commercial and marketing director Kathryn Swarbrick. “This will be a huge leap forward in achieving our ambition to have the best domestic professional women’s league in the world.”
A taste of what’s to come?
The Lionesses may not have produced the smooth, flowing performance they hoped for in their Euro 2022 opener against Austria at Old Trafford, but they could hardly have wished for a better atmosphere at the Theater of Dreams on July 6.
A record crowd of 68,871 for a European Women’s Championship game saw Sarina Wiegman’s side kick off their campaign with a 1-0 win courtesy of Beth Mead’s goal in the first part
Fans from both sides – including a large number of families – gathered outside the ground hours before kick-off, while the opening ceremony featured a spectacular display of pyrotechnics. When Mead calmed the nerves of the home fans with his chipped shot onto the crossbar, a ruckus broke out among the home faithful.
“It was incredible. There are no words,” Wiegman said when asked about the atmosphere, which set the tone for a memorable tournament both on and off the pitch.
Sunday’s final crowd could break the record crowd for any Euro game, men’s or women’s, with the current mark of 79,115 for the 1964 men’s final at Madrid’s Bernabéu.
Tickets have sold out for Wembley, which has a capacity of 87,200 for the Euro 2022 clash between England and Germany.