Women’s football is booming — but are female supporters welcome? | Football

In July, 89,000 football fans packed into Jakob-Park in Basel in Switzerland, to observe the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final where England beat Spain on penalties.

Because the Lionesses’ supporters screamed with joy as Chloe Kelly scored the winner, epic celebrations would proceed for days across the UK – a sure sign of just how far women’s football has are available a brief space of time.

Today, more women’s games are being shown on mainstream TV, a burgeoning fan culture is taking off on social media, and ticket sales have skyrocketed.

Working example: attendance within the Women’s Super League (WSL) increased by 200% after England’s initial Euro win in 2022, and on a world level, the fanbase is predicted to succeed in 800 million by 2030, with almost two thirds of those fans predicted to be female.

Women are proudly showing up and loudly celebrating the game, but are they really being welcomed? 

A recent survey by anti-­discrimination charity Kick It Out found that over half of female supporters have experienced sexism on match days in England.

Football fan Caz May, 30, knows this statistic all too well: ‘Stewards have directed me to shopping centres, and men have touched me without consent. One time, a person in his 50s whispered into my ear that I had “nice Bristols” [slang for boobs]. I discovered it petrifying, but would think to myself, “I’m in a male-dominated environment, what do I expect?”’

Nevertheless, one incident in 2021 led Caz to launch Her Game Too to stamp out misogyny, alongside 11 other women who also want to simply benefit from the game. ‘I got involved in social media banter, and laughed at Wycombe Wanderers for losing to my team, Bristol Rovers, just like the male fans were doing. However it became a horrendous sexist pile-on, with people attacking my gender, body, weight and appearance and saying stuff like “Get back within the kitchen”. I became scared by some threatening comments, but there was nowhere to get support or hold clubs accountable.’

Chloe Morgan, 35, is head of She’s a Baller, an organisation dedicated to promoting the ladies’s game, and has been playing football since childhood, starting with kickabouts on the road, before joining Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and Crystal Palace as a goalkeeper. 

Despite love for the game and her family’s avid support for Manchester United, she never went to games growing up.

‘There’s no way in hell that my mum and pa would let me go, but I didn’t wish to either,’ she says. When she eventually made it to a men’s Chelsea game in maturity, she described the environment as ‘hostile’: ‘There have been drunk people in my face shouting and swearing, which felt aggressive and unsafe, and real animosity between the perimeters. I’m not running to do it again.

‘You wish it to be like a pantomime with cheers, boos, and drama, but there’s a wonderful line. In women’s football, we hold ourselves to the next standard.’

Problems creeping into women’s games

The increasingly popular women’s matches have gotten a haven for a lot of fans. ‘It’s so healthful and beautiful with the male fans following women’s lead,’ explains Caz. ‘You may calm down without worrying about inappropriate chanting or discrimination, but I’m not saying it doesn’t occur, and because it grows, we’re going to get more incidents.’

Chloe adds that that is her ‘biggest fear’ and has already seen players Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw and Jess Carter facing racial discrimination. ‘The very high-profile incidents show that it’s creeping in,’ she says.

Football clubs taking motion early is ‘paramount,’ each women agree, and consider it will mean more people will feel comfortable speaking up about any discrimination. Currently, 85% of ladies who experience sexism or harassment at games don’t report it.

Nevertheless, women can’t do this alone, says Caz, it’s a job for everybody: ‘Men’s voices are powerful. In the event that they hear a mate saying anything misogynistic, they might gently call them out and educate.

‘If high-profile male athletes spoke up more, there can be a ripple effect. The subsequent generation of boys would grow as much as respect women in that space, too.’

Constructing change

Football is a sport that has historically catered to men, with the FA even banning women’s football for 50 years until 1971, so naturally, there’s a development gap. Chloe has seen crowds go from around 50 – mainly family and friends who had been ‘dragged along’ – to 38,000 a number of years ago. ‘We were all terrified,’ she remembers. ‘It’s an entire different level of pressure, nevertheless it feels exciting to see.’

To assist put women on the centre, WSL recently shared world-first design guidelines for elite women’s stadiums. ‘The rapid growth of the ladies’s game in recent times has merely highlighted the necessity to have those spaces designed with the needs of female athletes and fans at the center of it,’ says Hannah Buckley, WSL’s head of safety, sustainability and infrastructure. Excitedly, plans are already in place for the primary purpose-built women’s stadium at Brighton & Hove Albion. 

Charlotte Read, who has consulted the FA on learn how to support England teams through infrastructure and transport consultancy Steer, explains why the intentional focus is required: ‘Clubs often have their ways set for men’s teams and apply it to women, despite it being a totally different demographic.

‘The operations, infrastructure and the entire fan experience must adapt. For example, seating and sight lines are based on a median male height; this ought to be reassessed to reflect the demographics of attendees at the ladies’s game.’

Architect at BDP Pattern (who designed for Brighton & Hove fan zone), Lindsay Johnston, believes it would have long-term advantages. ‘Once we start constructing higher for ladies, it would be a catalyst for change. In tennis, the prize money and sponsorship deals are equal between the sexes, and football could follow,’ she says.

Practical suggestions outlined by WSL include a forty five% male, 45% female, and 10% gender-neutral toilets split, so women don’t miss the sport because of long queues. Dedicated breastfeeding areas, more family bathrooms, baby changing facilities, and an alcohol-free area are all included in the rules.

Caz also has ideas: more women’s sizes within the merchandise shop and free sanitary products within the toilets, which may very well be especially helpful for women attending matches with their dads. The small changes, she says, would mix to ‘construct an inclusive atmosphere’.

Safety is arguably a very powerful consideration, and this starts with the journey. ‘Public transport and the walk to the stadium, which is generally around a mile, may be quite frightening. Providing protected and well-lit access travel routes to grounds, with clear signage, is a necessity,’ states Lindsay. 

In the course of the Men’s Euro 2020 final, police made 51 arrests, but no arrests or significant trouble were reported across the Women’s Euro 2022 final. ‘At men’s games, stewards are used as a deterrence for anti-social behaviour,’ Charlotte explains. ‘But for the ladies’s games, you wish it to be a bit more light touch, supportive and about safeguarding.’

‘Security should look more friendly, slightly than resembling a fortress that you just don’t want to succeed in,’ Lindsay adds, and points out that everybody arriving at the identical time also causes issues – but fan zones could provide one other solution.‘People drift out and in, slightly than attempting to cram,’ she explains.

‘Change the offering, so there’s nice furniture, screens for other sports, wine on tap, healthier snacks, diverse dietary offerings like Halal, vegan, and child-friendly menus. If it’s a greater experience, they’re going to spend extra money, which may be reinvested into the sport.’ 

It’s thought that nurturing the fandom may lead to economic advantages, from boosts in travel, entertainment, and retail. This yr, throughout the first week of the Women’s Euros 2025, spending in Switzerland increased by 27% in comparison with the yr before. Because the earning power increases, the worth of female fans will probably be taken much more seriously. 

Charlotte points out that WSL fixtures are allocated broadcast time slots in any case of the lads’s fixed allocations, and so often occur on Sundays, which suggests they collide with planned engineering works and customarily reduced services. ‘When people see it’s difficult, they’re delay. It’s a barrier to people attending, especially whilst constructing the fanbase.’

Looking ahead

Now could be a crucial chapter to create a positive future, says Charlotte: ‘The fanbase is more fragile as there’s less loyalty because of it being newer, so that they must do every little thing they’ll to prioritise supporters having a fun experience. If we don’t make changes, it’s an enormous missed opportunity to create those fans of the long run.’

Some clubs are already leading the best way, equivalent to Arsenal, who’re playing their fixtures on the Emirates, which allows players to perform for larger crowds, and Everton, who’ve taken over Goodison Park and are investing in repurposing the stadium. 

Chloe wonders if women’s football was on the trail it’s on now when she was younger, whether she’d have pursued it completely, as a substitute of juggling it alongside a law profession. ‘I used to be essentially told there’s no profession in it, and I wouldn’t make enough money to live,’ she recalls. ‘If I had grown up on this era, I’d have considered it in a different way.’

‘Once I was a little bit girl, I never had an option to contemplate football as a possible profession option, but when I had been capable of see this, I’d have definitely kept it up,’ Caz echoes. 

‘On the Euros final, I looked across the stadium to see so many little girls and boys, with Toone or Russo on their backs. It was beautiful and proof of how far we’d come.

‘Football is an enormous opportunity for anyone to flee from life and get sucked into those 90 minutes. I don’t think anyone on this world ought to be deprived of feeling what it’s wish to have a good time together with your community after scoring a last-minute winner.’

Do you’ve got a story you’d wish to share? Get in contact by emailing Josie.Copson@metro.co.uk 

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