WSL: Has England winning Euro 2025 impacted domestic women’s football?
Looking at the attendance averages for the last four seasons in the Women’s Super League (WSL), there is a significant jump after England’s Euro 2022 win and advancement to the 2023 World Cup final, but the figures have fallen slightly in the last season.
There is an average of 6,500 fans per game in the league this season. And while it is important to note that the season is still in its infancy, with most teams playing just six games and teams including Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham not yet playing in larger men’s stadiums, the leap forward experienced three years ago has clearly not happened.
Two rounds of WSL fixtures have also been held this season on weekends without Premier League matches (compared with one round at this point last year), which is when the WSL will typically target larger crowds.
If we compare the first six games of the season with this stage of last year, Women’s Sports Foundation, external reported a 1% drop in attendance.
But there are signs of success at some clubs.
Everton now play most of their home games at Goodison Park, following the men to Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Crowds of 6,473 and 4,313 attended the two WSL matches at their new home; this is a large increase from the previous two seasons, which averaged 2,000 at Walton Hall Park. 18,154 fans attended their first match against Manchester United at Hill Dickinson.
Meanwhile, Manchester United had a crowd of 8,665 for their 0-0 draw with Arsenal this season; this was a club record in a WSL match at home at Leigh Sports Village.
There is a more concerted push to build a dedicated fan base in women’s football to consolidate recent success and create a longer-term impact.
“It’s a really good strategy,” says Nicky Kemp, editor-in-chief of marketing consultancy Creativebrief.
“If we use the men’s game as a blueprint, the women’s game always loses. If you compare transfer fees or how many people are in stadiums, it’s always behind the curve.
“Many clubs have never had a strategy for filling stadiums, so they need to learn how to draw fans into the match experience.
“It’s not always linear. There’s an increase in player profiles post-2022, but the clubs that benefit are the ones that are ahead of the rest, like Arsenal playing women’s games at the Emirates.”
