September 6 – After the stunning success of the Women’s Euros in England in July, it is the turn of the Barclays Women’s Super League to report record breaking numbers.
The season opens this weekend and is almost certain to be the biggest yet in pretty much every media, engagement and attendance measurement.
Opening day fixtures will Chelsea vs West Ham at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham vs Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Brighton vs Aston Villa at the Amex.
Clubs are reporting ticket demand higher than ever, with Arsenal are on course to break the BWSL attendance record, with 38,500 tickets already sold for their fixture against Tottenham on September 25. The record is currently held by Tottenham, set at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November 2019 for the same fixture.
Supporting the season launch are the WSL’s impressive roster of sponsors with title sponsors Barclays launching the ‘hero film’ with a major media campaign emphasising the talent of the players, the club rivalries and biggest names in the women’s game.
The campaign will be backed up with national TV advert slots and billboards to digital and social media, with Barclays promising that “the campaign will be impossible to miss”.
It is the total unison of engagement and the idea that the sponsors are working in step with the women’s game that makes the launch of the league and the marketing campaign powerful.
League partners Sky Sports, BBC, EA and Nike, are all launching their own season launch campaigns.
Kelly Simmons, Director of the Women’s Professional Game at The FA, said: “The Lionesses have done a tremendous job in opening women’s football to a new legion of fans, the job now is ensuring this translates to attendance figures in the BWSL.
“We’ve already seen record-breaking demand from fans wanting to continue their interest in women’s football and the season launch campaign is about ensuring that momentum continues into the opening weekend and throughout the 2022/23 season. The (Barclays ‘hero’) film shows that the product on offer in the BWSL is world-class and one that can appeal to everyone.”
Two new women’s high performance centres
Following the success of the Lionesses at The UEFA Women’s Euro’s, England Football Learning has today announced it is launching two new Women’s High Performance Football Centre’s at the University of Essex and Birmingham City University.
The two new universities will join the eight existing university partners of England Football Learning, to offer for women’s and girls’ game football coaches, providing an educational and community-based hub to recruit, develop and deploy coaches and the wider workforce to lead and inspire player development within the women’s and girls’ game.
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