Last Friday night, Keira Walsh led England out in front of 63,000 fans under the iconic Wembley arch. It was by no means the biggest occasion for this generation of Lionesses or for many women’s teams around the world, but it was the latest in a series of showpiece events that have helped propel women’s football to new heights.
Crowds of this size are becoming the norm, globally. Attendance records have been broken across multiple continents – whether that be at last year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, or at a sold-out Dasharath Rangasala in Kathmandu for Bangladesh’s 2022 SAFF Championship win, or the record crowd for a friendly in Atlanta for the USA’s SheBelieves Cup opener just this fortnight. Whether in Europe, Africa, South America or beyond, the game is attracting the audiences it lacked for so long.
