The electric atmosphere at Bramall Lane. Alessia Russo’s back-heel. Everything Beth Mead does. England’s 4-0 win over Sweden in the Euro 2022 semi-final will go down in sporting history.
Now the Lionesses are on their way to Wembley for Sunday’s final to take on either Germany or France. But what will the legacy of this home European Championship be for women’s football in this country?
The support
This is the fourth consecutive international tournament where England have reached the semi-finals, stretching back to the 2015 World Cup in Canada — and they reached the finals of Euro 2009 (they lost to 6-2 to Germany). However, the fact that these Euros are on home soil has certainly helped capture the imagination. Around 7.6 million people tuned in to watch England beat Spain last Wednesday night, more than the number who watched the Wimbledon men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios. Overall viewing figures for the 2022 championship are up 58%.
In-person attendances have been equally impressive, with Euro 2022 having already broken records for overall attendance, individual attendance for a match, and individual attendance for a match not involving a host nation. England’s semi-final against Sweden took place at Bramall Lane in Sheffield, where 29,000 fans squeezed in to the stands. Uefa released an extra 2,000 tickets to the England Supporters’ Group, all of which were snapped up within an hour. Who knows how many people might have packed into a bigger ground?
While the size of the grounds has drawn some criticism, the fact that they have been filled has contributed to some incredible atmospheres. Women’s football has in the past traded off being “family-friendly’, often resulting in a rather sanitised mood. There is a balance to be found in creating a space that is welcoming to all, in a way that men’s football often isn’t, but which mirrors the intensity and excitement of elite sporting events. The cries of “Toone” at the American Express Community Stadium when Manchester United forward Ella Toone was brought on demonstrated a shift away from crowds who were there solely to have a nice day out to those who were there to passionately support a team.
The challenge has always been translating that interest in international football into the domestic competition. There was a 34 per cent increase in WSL attendances following the 2019 World Cup but crowds have struggled to reach their pre-pandemic heights.
Clubs continue to push attendances with showpiece games at their main stadiums but the familiar issues of access to WSL grounds continues to limit growth. However, with the Euros increasing player recognition — there were players from 11 of the 12 WSL clubs participating— there should be some knock-on effect. WSL club Reading announced this week that it had already sold more season tickets than last season, with the start of the domestic calendar still over a month away.
The trolls
It would not be a women’s sporting event without the tedious commentary about whether anyone cares. We have had Alan Sugar complaining that there have not been enough male pundits, as well as talkSPORT presenter Simon Jordan claiming that Wendie Renard’s awful penalty against Belgium was somehow indicative of women’s football as a whole. The latter was particularly ironic, given that his radio station has the rights to all of the England games at the tournament.
What has been notable has been the fantastic responses from male allies. Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright posted a scathing video response to Sugar while the men’s England team have been doing their bit to promote the women. Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson trained in an England shirt with Leah Williamson’s name on the back while West Ham’s Declan Rice tweeted “Georgia Stanway Ballaaaaa” following her winner against Spain.
When you see the high-quality coverage that the BBC has produced to a backdrop of sold-out stadiums, it is wilfully inflammatory to suggest that no one cares. In fact, Euro 2022 feels like a watershed moment in terms of the “nobody cares” brigade being left to sit behind their Twitter accounts unnoticed.
The money
With the increase in popularity in women’s football and the tournament itself, there is also more money available for the players than ever before. The FA have reportedly agreed that each of the Lionesses will receive a £55,000 bonus if they win the tournament. That is still close to 10 times lower than the £461,000 the men were expected to receive but this is a result of the size of Uefa prize pots.
The best players in the squad can expect to gain boosted sponsorship deals and club contracts, with Lucy Bronze and Leah Williamson this month appearing on Dorito packets and Pepsi cans.
However, there is concern about the growing inequality between those at the very top of the women’s game and those at the bottom. While the best players at top WSL clubs now earn up to £300,000 a year, agents have warned of salaries for youngsters that barely exceed minimum wage. For the sport to properly grow, it needs to be sustainable for women at more levels of the game than just the top.
The inspiration
Beyond the interest in the current women’s professional game, Euro 2022 will also have encouraged more women and girls to try football. One club in London was reporting that its membership had doubled from 50 to 110 since the Euros had begun. But there continues to be concerns about how accessible the sport is. Pitches are in short supply, with long-term bookings often making it hard for women’s teams to find space.
The whiteness of this England team has also been raised during the tournament, a legacy of the locations of many WSL training grounds which tend to be in leafy suburbs, making it hard for girls from inner-cities to access them.
The FA has been working hard to change this, teaming up with the Premier League to launch 70 emerging talent centres from next season which will allow for a greater geographic spread. As WSL academies grow and improve, the hope will be that better scouting networks also enable a wider range of backgrounds to access those first rungs that can lead to a professional career.
The verdict
Regardless of whether England win Euro 2022, the spotlight has once again been shone on women’s football, with the FA likely to feel that hosting the tournament has been a success. There are suggestions that the FA also might bid for the 2027, or more likely 2031, World Cup so it might not be long until we see another women’s international tournament on our shores.
These showpiece events do wonders to promote the women’s game but the hard work comes when attention turns elsewhere. There are plenty of improvements still to be made, and women’s football is for life, not just for an international tournament.
