WSL: England’s Euro 2022 success sparks huge rise in attendances | OneFootball

Average attendances at Women’s Super League fixtures have risen by 200 per cent following England’s historic win at Euro 2022 this summer.

The Championship has also seen an increase of 85 per cent since the 2022/23 season started.

The Lionesses sparked a surge in eyes on women’s football after ending the nation’s 56-year wait for a major trophy.

A show-stopping crowd of 87,192 watched England vs Germany at Wembley, shattering the record attendance for any European Championship final.

More than 50 million around the world watched and streamed the final live, while a record overall audience of more than 375 million tuned in throughout the tournament.

The staggering number of eyes on Euro 2022 has resulted in more fans following women’s football at domestic level.

Women’s football attendances rising

“We are currently averaging almost 6,000 fans a week in the Barclays Women’s Super League as we go into the final league fixtures of 2022 — which is up over 200 per cent on this time last year,” explained Kelly Simmons, the director of the women’s professional game.

“The Barclays Women’s Championship is also performing brilliantly, with the average attendance up over 85 per cent on this time last year.”

More matches are being held at main club stadiums too, which naturally pull in much bigger crowds.

Back in September, Arsenal hosted Spurs at the Emirates for a highly-anticipated North London Derby. A new record WSL attendance of 47,367 was set, eclipsing the previous milestone amount of 38,262 set by these two sides in 2019 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In August, Brighton announced they had sold a record amount of season tickets and sales were up 249 per cent compared to last year.

Simmons reflected on Euro 2022 and said England’s fairytale triumph “propelled the women’s game in this country to new levels.”

“It was important for us to capture and capitalise on that momentum,” she continued. “It has often been said that a successful women’s England team will help generate interest in the domestic game.

“This is certainly true, and I have been really overwhelmed by the response we have seen from fans — new and old — in the first half of the season.

“This just highlights how much appetite there is for world-class women’s league football.”

England’s Euro 2022 victory

It was a summer every England fan will remember for the rest of their life. The Lionesses brought it home, in front of a record home crowd no less.

Throughout the entire tournament, they conceded just two goals while scoring an impressive 22.

Their biggest win was an 8-0 thrashing over Norway, which featured five goal scorers and a Beth Mead hat-trick. The Arsenal star went on to win the Golden Boot and Player of the Tournament after tallying six goals and five assists — contributing to half of England’s goal tally.

During the knockouts, the Lionesses held their nerve during a tight 2-1 win over Spain in the quarter-finals. The match went to extra time after Ella Toone bagged the equaliser, and Georgia Stanway finished the job in the added minutes.

After a comfortable 4-0 win over Sweden, England played out an extremely tense final against eight-time winners Germany.

Toone got on the scoresheet again but her goal was cancelled out by Lina Magull and the Lionesses were forced into extra time once again.

In the 110th minute, Chloe Kelly popped up with the match-winning goal to snatch the win and stamp England’s name on their first ever major trophy.