The 12th edition of the Women’s Super League gets under way this weekend amid an unprecedented sense of buzz and excitement following England’s momentous summer.
The journey of growth the English women’s game has been on for a number years was taken to a whole new level in July as the Lionesses surged to European Championship glory on home soil.
Attendance records were broken through the tournament and there was 87,192 present – the biggest ever crowd for any Euros game, men’s or women’s – at the Wembley final when Sarina Wiegman’s side beat Germany to claim the first major trophy in the team’s history.
The match also had a peak BBC One audience of 17.4million and an average of 11million, with more watching online.
Now, six weeks later, the WSL is back with clubs having announced big increases in ticket sales and various fixtures as taking place at Premier League grounds, as the second season of a three-year broadcast deal with Sky Sports and the BBC kicks in.
Defending champions Chelsea, who open their campaign by playing West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, are bidding for a fourth successive title and sixth in total under boss Emma Hayes.
They have England stars Millie Bright and Fran Kirby in their ranks, and Sam Kerr, the WSL’s top scorer for the past two seasons and a player set to be one of the most prominent faces at next summer’s World Cup being hosted by her native Australia and New Zealand.
A memorable brace from Kerr in a 4-2 final-day win over Manchester United last term helped the the Blues finish one point clear of Arsenal, whose Lionesses include skipper Leah Williamson and Beth Mead, winner of the Euros Golden Boot and player of the tournament award.
A standout date involving Jonas Eidevall’s Gunners is September 24 when they face derby rivals Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium – a match that could have a record WSL crowd in attendance, with over 40,000 tickets sold.
Arsenal begin their 2022-23 with Sunday’s sold-out Academy Stadium clash with Manchester City, who bounced back after a poor start last season to finish third.
Significant change at City over the summer has included the departures of some of the England players from Gareth Taylor’s squad – while the likes of Lauren Hemp and Euros final match-winner Chloe Kelly remain, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh have moved to Barcelona, Georgia Stanway has transferred to Bayern Munich, and Ellen White and Jill Scott have retired.
There has been a number of incomings at the same time, with Spain duo Leila Ouahabi and Laia Aleixandri among them, and it will certainly be interesting to see how the new-look team fare this time around after City managed to get the better of neighbours Manchester United in the battle for a Champions League place in 2021-22 (before then suffering elimination in the first qualifying round last month).
United have notable England representation in players like Alessia Russo, Ella Toone and Mary Earps, plus Nikita Parris has joined from Arsenal. Marc Skinner’s team feature in the season’s curtain-raiser, taking on Spurs – last term’s fifth-placed side – at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday.
Another opening-weekend contest taking place at a Premier League ground sees Hope Powell’s Brighton face Aston Villa, who have brought in England full-back/forward Rachel Daly during the summer, at the Amex Stadium.
Everton begin life under new boss Brian Sorensen by hosting a Leicester outfit embarking upon their second WSL campaign after being guided to survival in their first by Lydia Bedford.
The promoted team this season is Liverpool, restored to the top flight by Matt Beard, the man who led them to the WSL title in 2013 and 2014 – they start by playing Reading away.
