Arsenal Women have announced that they will play five WSL games at Emirates Stadium in 2023-24, an increase on the three they have played at the stadium this season.
The Gunners also played their five UWCL home games at the Emirates and if they qualify for the tournament for next season they will do the same again in 2023/24.
This season Arsenal played Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea in front of crowds of over 40,000 and the women’s team sold the stadium out for the first time in their history against Wolfsburg earlier this month. In total, over 240,000 tickets were sold to watch the women’s team in the club’s main stadium.
Arsenal CEO, Vinai Venkatesham said: “We’re delighted to confirm that our women’s first team will play five WSL games at Emirates Stadium next season.
“We’ve received fantastic support at Emirates Stadium this year, setting a new record attendance in the WSL and achieving a memorable sell-out for our recent UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg earlier this month.
“It’s wonderful to see the support for the team at Emirates Stadium, Meadow Park and on the road week in, week out. This latest announcement ensures that as many supporters as possible can enjoy the matchday experience with us, as we continue to support the sustainable growth of women’s football.”
That’ll be 5 ACL injuries then!
Better get busy in the transfer window!
You think the pitch is a contributory factor?
3 out of our 4 ACL’s were done at the Emirates, the other at a ground that also hosts rugby matches not just football.
I understand the temptation to play at the Emirates but count how many women’s matches were played there this season compared to how many were played elsewhere it is quite a high attrition rate.
Just highlighting a statistic!
Wow…talk about seeing the negative in every situation, no matter how good or positive the situation may be!
One of those comments which make you realise that sometimes silence truly is golden.
👊🏾
5 seems a pretty modest increase given they can sell 40k+ tickets on a good day, but still mostly play in a stadium that can only hold 4,500.
No, I think it’s sensible – ambitious but doable. *Sustainable* growth, remember. 40,000 is fantastic but still only two-thirds full.
And scheduling has to be taken into account too. It’d probably be difficult to get more than that in there given likely clashes.
Great news – the only downside of these Emirates games is me forgetting which stadium I’m meant to be going to!
is there a roadmap to getting every WSL team playing all their games in the larger grounds? even if some sides (albeit the bigger and more successful clubs) are committed to playing more matches in these locations, not all seem to be interested in supporting their women’s teams to the same degree and it feels like the league needs guidelines in this area (to avoid things like the ‘relocated’ game against tiny totts earlier in the year). continuing to treat the women’s teams like second class attractions won’t help the growth or visibility of the game in the long term,… Read more »
Off topic but huge congrats to Meado on being awarded an MBE for her services to football! Well deserved 🥳🎖️