England’s women have won the European football championship, bringing a major international trophy home for the first time since the men’s team won the World Cup in 1966, more than a lifetime ago for many of the fans who crowded into Wembley Stadium for the match. They beat Germany, English football’s bitterest rival by two goals to one, in a tense and hard-fought match that was not decided until the second period of extra time.
England’s women footballers have not just won the championship, though. The team has captured the public imagination. Attendance at the match was 87,192, the biggest crowd for a Euros football match for either men’s or women’s football. Newspapers are devoting multiple pages to women’s sports coverage and England’s key players are becoming well known.
And the games themselves are attracting a whole new set of fans. Watching women’s international football feels like – and is – a different world from the men’s version. Crowds at men’s football are ageing, but at women’s football, price, civility and increased safety means that around half the crowd can often be children.
