Has England’s Euros triumph given women’s club football a boost?

One of the constant refrains throughout England’s triumphant run at Euro 2025 – and most women’s football matches in recent years – has been how important the success of the national team has been for the growth of the game.

And there has undoubtedly grown. Since England finished third at the 2015 World Cup, the media has grown significantly and discussion of women’s football has increased significantly over the past ten years, especially since their Euro title was won in 2022.

Following England’s victory at Euro 2022 and their bid to reach the 2023 World Cup final, there was a noticeable increase in average attendance over the previous four Women’s Super League (WSL) seasons, but figures for the last campaign only slightly increased.

This season the league has averaged almost 6, 500 fans per game. And while it’s important to remember that the season is still in its early stages, with most teams only having played six games, and that larger men’s stadiums like Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham haven’t yet had the same level of bounce as they did three years ago, it’s obvious that there hasn’t been as much.

This season, there have also been two WSL fixture rounds that have been played on weekends without Premier League games, compared to the previous round’s one, which is typically when the WSL will be aiming for larger crowds.

Comparing the first six games of the season to this stage last year, the Women’s Sport Trust reported a fall of 1% in attendances.

However, some clubs exhibit signs of success.

Since Everton’s men moved to Hill Dickinson Stadium, they now play the majority of their home games at Goodison Park.

Their two WSL matches at their new home have drawn crowds of 6, 473 and 4, 313 – a huge rise from the previous two seasons, when they averaged 2, 000 at Walton Hall Park. 18, 154 people turned out for their first game against Manchester United at Hill Dickinson.

For their 0-0 draw against Arsenal this season, Manchester United had an audience of 8,665 at their Leigh Sports Village home, which is a club record for a WSL game.

There has been a more concerted push in women’s football for a dedicated fan base, to solidify the recent success and exposure into something longer term.

Nicky Kemp, editorial director of marketing consultancy Creativebrief, calls it “a really good strategy.”

The women’s game will always lose if we use the men’s game as a model. It will always be behind the curve if you compare transfer fees or how many people are in the stadiums.

Many clubs need to learn how to get fans to experience games because they have never had a strategy for filling stadiums.

Arsenal is a fascinating case study. Playing all their WSL home games at the 60, 000-seater Emirates for the first time this season, they have the largest permanent home capacity of any English women’s side.

In three games this campaign, none of their attendances have exceeded 40, 000, compared to two out of three at the start of the previous season.

The club is not concerned about lower crowds because they are more pressing for a returning core of supporters than tens of thousands of day-trippers, even though they did not host one of the other big four teams this campaign in those first three games last year.

“We are very happy with the fans we have”, Arsenal manager Renee Slegers told her post-Brighton news conference when asked by BBC Sport about the attendance of 27, 336.

“I’m happy and proud of the fans and attendances we have,” he said.

On November 8th, Arsenal plays Chelsea, and they already had sold 50 000 tickets by last Friday. Last season 45, 860 fans attended the same fixture.

About 17, 000 season tickets for women’s soccer have been sold by Arsenal between 2025 and 2026. Compare this to Meadow Park’s 4,500 capacity, which was where they played the majority of their home games up until 2024.

“Our focus this season is on working together with these supporters to make the Emirates feel like the true home of Arsenal Women now all WSL matches are here”, a club spokesperson said.

Kick-off times are another problem for WSL fans.

New timings this season mean many more games start at noon, rather than the staggered kick-off times WSL fans were used to, while the divisive 18.45 slot on a Sunday has been scrapped.

To avoid conflict with Sky’s Premier League pick, which started at 14:00, three matches started at 11.55 on October 5.

Sports-mad families must choose between participating and attending, and using public transportation on a Sunday morning to travel to games can be challenging.

One plus is that games not picked for broadcast on BBC or Sky are now on YouTube, with the much-maligned FA Player consigned to the scrapheap.

Sponsorship is a key factor in the success of major brands, which continue to be focused on women’s football.

Similar to the Premier League, the WSL, which is an independent company as of August 2024, is currently in the second year of a three-year, £45 million title sponsorship deal with Barclays, while a new agreement allows British Gas customers to obtain free tickets.

WSL players and clubs will appear in the Football Manager series of video games for the first time in the 2026 version which will be released in November.

According to Kemp, “The biggest brands are choosing to invest their money in women’s sports.” And since it’s in the challenger stage, it’s incredibly good value. While WSL is an independent entity, they can do their own activations”.

Other than the buzz surrounding major tournaments, other brands have also made longer commitments to women’s football.

Kerstin Casperij, a City and Netherlands defender, and her partner Ruth have become the faces of Tinder’s dating app, making one of the most eye-catching changes.

On social media England players are garnering a greater following.

Chloe Kelly, Leah Williamson, and Alessia Russo are the three current England players with more than a million Instagram followers. Not far behind are Ella Toone (850, 000), Lucy Bronze (905, 000), and Lauren James (950, 000).

After newly promoted Ipswich and Nottingham Forest both advanced to professional football over the summer, the second tier, WSL2, was renamed WSL2 for the 2025-26 season, and now has 12 full-time teams for the first time.

Professionalism also means treating players like professionals. Women’s use of men’s boots has become a common complaint due to the recent spate of serious knee ligament injuries in the WSL.

Nike, a sportswear giant, announced in September that it would offer free gloves to keepers and boots for WSL and WSL2 players. These are standard practice at the highest level of the men’s game.

Below the professional level, an extra promotion place has been added from the third tier. The women’s national league North and South winners used to compete for a spot in the second division, but now both winners move up.

And at the grassroots, it appears to be in good health.

Before the Euros, Sport England released figures stating that 835, 000 girls regularly play football – an increase of 165, 000 compared to 2017 – and that over the past decade almost 100, 000 women have taken up the sport, 215, 000 regularly played football a decade ago compared to 310, 000 now.