The average attendance for Women’s Super League matches decreased by nearly 10% across the 2024/25 season, data from Football Web Pages has revealed.
After two years of steep increases following EURO 2022 and the Lionesses’ campaign at the World Cup in 2023, average turnout for top-flight games dropped to below 7,000 over the last nine months.
The domestic set-up has not been afforded the boost from eyes on England’s national side, with the Lionesses’ failure to qualify for the Olympics last summer resulting in the lack of a major tournament for the first time in four years.
Speaking to The Times, co-host of the women’s football business podcast Expected Goals Matt Cutler said: “Last season’s average attendance was artificially high. We were coming off two summers of the Lionesses doing well on terrestrial TV.”
Following Sarina Wiegman‘s truimph with England three summers ago, the 2022-23 season average attendance was nearly 5,500 – increasing 187% on the previous season. With another climb to average crowds of over 7,000 fans in 2023-24, this season’s footfall has revealed a 9% decrease.
In addition, five of the 11 clubs which featured in last season’s campaign witnessed drops in matchday footfall, including significant decline for Arsenal and Manchester United.
For the first time in their history, the Gunners played nine WSL games at the Emirates this season, but their average turnout compared to last year’s number represents a drop of nearly 18,000 fans.
However, playing at the 60,000-capacity ground is not a rarity for Arsenal anymore, meaning it is more likely that crowds would decrease against smaller sides like Leicester City and Everton where there is less hope for a blockbuster fixture.
Arsenal supporter Amelia Harris said: “The WSL crowds have decreased because the momentum of the football has slowed down a bit.
“I don’t think that the marketing and the information about women’s football is as accessible as it maybe was during the Euros.
“I think a lot of the players have had media training, as they should. But I think that does take a bit of the personal element out of it which I do think affects how much people support WSL football in a weird way.”
“I don’t find it quite as exciting. l don’t feel like there’s that unpredictability.”
Arsenal are not the only top-flight club to move all their WSL matches to their larger counterpart stadium in recent seasons – Aston Villa and Leicester City also host their 11 home games at Villa Park and the King Power Stadium respectively.
Harris said: “It does show that Arsenal are serious about committing some serious money forward even when the attendance isn’t like overwhelmingly impressive. It is particularly impressive for a WSL team.”
Manchester United also exemplify the drop in matchday footfall, with the northern club’s average attendance dropping by over 3,500 fans across the last 12 months.
The Red Devils lost a number of household names in last summer’s transfer window, with the likes of goalkeeper Mary Earps moving to Paris Saint Germain and captain Katie Zelem signing for Angel City in the NWSL.
However, several clubs across the top-flight witnessed steady growth in their matchday attendance, with Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and this season’s champions Chelsea attracting a higher number of fans to matches across the season.
Join the discussion