Packed house for Arsenal-Spurs WSL match

Article posted by Coliseum, September 28^th, 2022

Image: Arsenal FC

The North London derby (a match between two nearby teams with a longstanding rivalry) between the Arsenal Women Football Club and Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women has smashed the Women’s Super League (WSL) attendance record at the Emirates Stadium in London, England (UK), on September 24^th.

‘ESPN’ stated that a record crowd of 47,367 turned out to watch Arsenal thrash Spurs 4-0 thanks to a Vivianne Miedema (Dutch footballer) brace and goals from Beth Mead (English footballer) and Rafaelle Souza (Brazilian footballer).

The Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women’s football club based in Islington, London, England (UK). The club plays in the Women’s Super League, the top tier of English women’s football.

The 4,500-capacity Meadow Park, currently known as the LV Bet Stadium Meadow Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football ground in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England. It is the home ground of Boreham Wood F.C. and also hosts the home matches of Arsenal Women F.C. and Arsenal youth teams.

The Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women, commonly referred to as Tottenham or Spurs, is an English women’s football club affiliated with Tottenham Hotspur. The club currently plays in the FA WSL, the top flight of women’s football in England.

The 6,500-capacity Hive Stadium is a stadium in Canons Park, North London, on the former site of the Prince Edward Playing Fields in the London Borough of Harrow. It serves as the home field of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women.

The Women’s Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women’s Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women’s football in England, UK. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association (FA) and features 12 fully professional teams.

The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England (UK). It is the home of Premier League club Arsenal F.C., since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity of 60,704, making it the fifth-largest football stadium in England.

‘ESPN’ further stated that the previous record was 38,262 which were set at the 62,850-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London during the 2019 North London derby. Ticket sales for the September 24^th match had already surpassed that figure on September 1^st, Arsenal announced.

Arsenal also confirmed that 53,757 tickets were sold for the September 24^th derby.

This follows a record-breaking Women’s European Championship campaign that saw 87,192 fans packed into the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium in Wembley, England, for England’s victory in the final, setting a Euros attendance record.

Commented Kelly Simmons, The English Football Association’s (FA’s) Director for the Women’s Professional Game, “After a stunning Summer that saw packed out stadiums to watch the Lionesses (England women’s national football team) during the UEFA Women’s Euro, we were really confident that we’d see a new record attendance early on in this season’s Barclays Women’s Super League. The atmosphere at The Emirates was absolutely incredible, and seeing 47,367 fans in the stadium shows just how much the women’s game has grown. I am delighted that we have seen such big interest in the league since the start of the season, which is great credit to the clubs.”

Added Simmons, “I hope this momentum can continue throughout the whole campaign and I encourage anyone to come along to a Barclays WSL match and be a part of this exciting league.”

Arsenal had sold over 50,000 tickets for the match before September 24^th and Arsenal W.F.C. Manager Jonas Eidevall said that he is keen to see attendances for women’s matches continue to rise – “It’s 50,000 sold tickets. It’s not giveaways, it’s not sold for a discounted price – it’s sold tickets. I think that’s really really special because that means that doing this the way the club has done it, it’s sustainable. It shows the interest there, it is for real. The investment that we as a team, the club has done but also all the past generations and past teams before us have done to put us onto this stage here, that’s phenomenal.”

Added Eidevall, “So we feel that, of course we want to go out and make the most of it so it can happen again more frequently.”

Arsenal W.F.C. are set to host Manchester United W.F.C. and Chelsea Football Club Women at the Emirates Stadium in November and January, respectively, moving from their usual home stadium Meadow Park, Borehamwood.

Eidewall’s side will also play their Champions League group stage matches at the Emirates Stadium if they beat AFC Ajax Women (Dutch football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands) to qualify.

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