Arsenal smash Women’s Super League attendance record in win over Chelsea

Arsenal have smashed the record for the highest ever attendance in a Women’s Super League match as 59,042 supporters watched them beat Chelsea 4-1 at home.

It has become a somewhat recurring feat for Arsenal. The previous WSL attendance record was broken as recently as October when 54,115 saw the club lose to Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium. 

Last season’s record of 47,367 was also held by Arsenal. It is part of a larger trend in the growing appetite for women’s football in the UK. 

Some 77,390 spectators saw Chelsea lift the Women’s FA Cup trophy at Wembley in May this year, which is the attendance record for a UK club fixture. 

The meteoric rise in interest may be partially attributed to the success of the Lionesses. Sarina Wiegman’s side reached the final of the World Cup in Australia this year, a year after the Euros final at Wembley Stadium where 87,192 supporters witnessed a home England victory. 

European governing body Uefa says that the figure of 357,993 who attended the Euros in 2022 was nearly one and a half times the size of crowds at the Euros in 2017. 

Arsenal’s chiefs have made considerable efforts to market women’s matches over past seasons. The club’s commercial officer Juliet Slot said that they want to match European attendance levels, with Barcelona selling over 50,000 tickets to supporters for matches. 

The Spanish club hold the record for attendance at a women’s match, which stands at around 91,600. 

Arsenal’s club attendance record is 60,063 from when they faced Wolfsburg in the Women’s Champions League semi final. 

“We intend to build our audiences. The collective growth of the women’s game and united marketing efforts of all the different clubs will see a transformation over the next few years,” Slot said in March this year. 

Arsenal now match Chelsea on points at the top of the Women’s Super League table after their 4-1 win. Although Beth Mead’s early lead was cancelled out by Chelsea’s Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, they went into the second half at 3-1 after Alessia Russo and Amanda Ilestedt scored in the 36th and 38th minutes. 

Russo scored a penalty midway through the second half to clinch their win over their London rivals.