The Women’s Game keeps breaking records

On Wednesday, March 30th, history was made as a world record crowd of just over 91,500 fans watched as Barcelona beat bitter rivals Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League Quarter-Final at the Camp Nou.

Barca won 5-2 on the night in front of the record-breaking crowd, giving them a comfortable 8-3 win on aggregate to set up a tie against Wolfsburg in the semi-final.

The attendance was the biggest ever to watch a women’s football fixture in its history, a huge landmark for the sport which shows, despite claims, there are people out there who do care about the women’s game.

Previously, the record for the biggest attendance at a women’s club level game was 60,739. This was set in 2019 at the Metropolitano Stadium where Atletico Madrid beat Barca 2-0.

The previous international record attendance was 90,195 fans, set at the 1999 World Cup final in California between the United States and China.

Both records were remarkably smashed on Wednesday.

Looking ahead to the Euros

The record attendance at Camp Nou came shortly after tickets for the UEFA Women’s European Championships final this year sold out in just under an hour.

Wembley Stadium has a capacity of 90,000 and is the set venue for the final, therefore, the overall attendance is set to beat the previous record for a final of its type across both genders.

Currently, the highest ever attendance for a European Championships final is 79,115. This was for the 1964 men’s final between Spain and Russia at the Bernabeu in Madrid.

And at present, the current record for a Women’s European Championship final is 41,302. This was set at the 2013 championships when Germany defeated hosts Sweden.

Indicative of the growth that the women’s game has experienced in the UK and all over the world, prior to tickets going on general sale on Monday, March 28th, more than 700,000 had already been purchased for different matches across the tournament in pre-sales.

Also, with just under 100 days to go until the tournament begins with England’s opening game against Austria at Old Trafford, a new record for the total number of watchers of the tournament on television is set to be registered. The previous total was 240,045 which was from the 2017 tournament in the Netherlands.

Attendances for league games in the UK

In terms of Women’s Super League fixtures, sides are a long way off from attracting over 90,000 fans to matches, mostly due to the fact that their respective grounds do not have the required capacity. However, there has been a dramatic increase in crowd numbers over the last few years.

The announcement of the Euro final being a sell-out came shortly after Manchester United recorded the largest  WSL crowd of the season when they faced Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday, March 27th. The crowd was 20,241, which smashed the Red Devils’ previous best of 4,835 in 2018.

Overall, the biggest attendance for a WSL game remains 38,262 which was set when Tottenham played Arsenal in the North London derby at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in 2019. Whilst being a stark contrast to 91,500, it shows how much the game is growing and will continue to do so when given additional care and love.

Before that particular game, the record attendance that season was only 5,265.

We have seen the crowds out in force in Spain, so could the Women’s Euros this year be a massive turning point in England and the rest of the world?

Set to become the most-watched and attended women’s euro tournament in history begs the question, why not? It may change the way we all view women’s football in the future.

The women’s game is making moves, and as long as we all keep supporting it and giving it more publicity, the crowds will keep growing and many people’s perceptions will change.

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