English soccer’s Women’s Super League (WSL) has set a new cumulative attendance record for the season, even with six rounds of matches from the 2023-24 season still to be played. The record was broken despite having fewer games compared to the previous season.
A total of 717,721 fans have attended a WSL match so far this season, surpassing the previous record of 689,297 set in the fully completed 2022-23 season. Remarkably, this new record was achieved in just 96 matches compared to last year's full-season tally of 132 games.
The landmark was reached on March 15th weekend when Chelsea recorded a club-record attendance of nearly 33,000 at Stamford Bridge for their win over rivals Arsenal.
Arsenal Women have been star of the show
Arsenal Women's team has been instrumental in these impressive figures. Each of the WSL’s four highest attendances have been at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium - traditionally home to its men's team - where they are scheduled to play six out of their eleven home games this season.
In addition to playing at larger venues like Emirates Stadium instead of their usual Meadow Park with a capacity for only about 4,500 spectators, Arsenal Women also sold over an astonishing number of tickets recently. They sold more than sixty thousand tickets for back-to-back fixtures following their own WSL record attendance figure in the Manchester United fixture on February 17th which saw more than sixty thousand fans attending that game alone.
This surge in ticket sales resulted in an average crowd attendance number surpassing thirty-five thousand this current season – another testament to growing popularity and interest among fans.
Global growth and increased interest on social media is visible
This news comes as no surprise considering that WSL has recorded significant growth globally not just through physical attendance but also online presence. According to reports, WSL registered a 258% increase in internet searches for sports leagues and competitions in 2023, marking it as the league with the largest growth globally. This data is based on people's search patterns for different sporting leagues.
The Women's Super League is clearly making strides in popularity and attendance, both online and offline. With still more games left to play this season, it will be interesting to see how much higher these numbers can go. The rising interest in women's football is a positive sign for the sport and its future growth potential.
