Women’s football is riding the crest of a wave, it’s undeniable. Fans, attendances, viewing figures, transfer deals, commercial agreements, it has all exploded in the last few years. There’s been hype, but also legitimate growth.
This year, the FA celebrated a record season for the Women’s Super League (WSL). Attendances in the WSL are up 173 per cent compared with last season; albeit there have been many more games played inside clubs’ larger main stadiums, the average WSL attendance has also more than doubled, to 5,272 from 1,931.
Arsenal Women sold out the Emirates last month for the first time in the Champions League semi-finals (Photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Sky Sports’ average viewership for the WSL has increased by 53 per cent and the BBC also had record viewing figures for two WSL games, with the highest-ever peak of 1.35 million for a Chelsea-Tottenham last November. Streaming platform DAZN recently released an impact report detailing the impressive numbers achieved by its Women’s Champions League coverage on YouTube. Last season, DAZN’s global free-to-view coverage drew 64 million views on YouTube, with 4.1 million live views of the final between Barcelona and Lyon.
We’ve seen England players pull in lucrative individual…
