It’s the start of a pivotal month for football as the spotlight shines on the UEFA Women’s Euros. The tournament will showcase the significant rise of women’s football with some of the very best in the world battling it out in-front of record crowds.
Football is the world's fastest growing female sport and England are set to host the biggest Euros ever. So just how high is women’s football soaring at the moment?
A record-breaking crowd showed up in their thousands for the first opening game of the tournament. Host’s England took on 2017 semi-finalists Austria in a match which saw the Lionesses come away with a 1-0 victory.
A record breaking crowd of 68,871 enthusiastic fans packed the famous ‘Theatre of Dreams’ in Old Trafford. This shattered the old record set in 2013 by over 27,000.
68,871 🙋♀️ THE 𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐒𝐓 crowd in Women's EURO history 🤩 — Victoria Rush (@victoriahrush) July 6, 2022
Smashing the previous record by 27,570!!!
UEFA Women’s Euros off to a record-breaking start 🙌 @weuro2022 @Lionesses @EnglandFootball #uefawomenseuro #weuro2022 pic.twitter.com/FM2JiG21A0
Many factors have indicated women’s football is on the rise, and is heading towards gaining the recognition it deserves.
Tickets for the Euro’s final have already been sold out. They sold out within just a matter of hours after being available. The final is expected to break new records with 90,000 tickets to Wembley sold.
It marks a rising trend for women’s football, with attendance records being smashed left and right throughout the year.
In April of this year, Barcelona Femení sold out the largest stadium in Europe, Camp Nou. In total, 91,648 fans crowded into the stadium and broke the previously standing 23-year-old record for a women’s soccer match in that stadium, according to Forbes.com.
World Record 91,648 Women’s football fans packed into sold out Camp Nou watching Barcelona play Champions League Football. Taste of what the future can look like for the Women’s Game 🙌pic.twitter.com/DHJBWWKV4s — roger bennett (@rogbennett) April 22, 2022
With television sponsorships and significant investments on the rise, women’s football has also reached new heights in terms of viewership.
The Women’s Super League accumulated a total of 51.1 million viewers who watched a minimum of three minutes of coverage which is triple last year’s viewership, according to Itv.com.
Recently, Nike has collaborated with the England Lionesses to build a stunning advertisement on the Battersea Power Station, promoting women’s football to the masses.
Footballer Lucy Bronze can be seen on the right side of the building.
Finally, in Ireland, the national team is on the verge of making history.
The Northern Ireland team has qualified for the 2022 Euro finals, which will be their first major women’s tournament.
Over the past several years support and viewership for women’s football has been on the rise and exponentially impactful on the athlete’s well-deserved recognition.
