At Old Trafford on Wednesday night the Women’s European Championship will get under way in front of a crowd of 73,000. England, the tournament hosts, will play Austria with Sarina Wiegman’s team hoping to prove their credentials as leading contenders for the trophy. Alongside a lavish opening ceremony, it is guaranteed there will be fireworks – a showcase for a sport exploding in popularity.
When England last hosted a Women’s European Championship finals, in 2005, the mood was very different. The coach of the national team – the pioneering Hope Powell – declared before the tournament that “the women’s game here is a second-class sport”. Her players were part-time, matches were played only in the north-west, and only eight teams took part. Lennart Johansson, then the president of Uefa, suggested one way to grow the sport further might be for sponsors to run campaigns featuring a “sweaty, lovely looking girl” playing in the rain.
