Opinion – Marina Izidro: After Euro title, England women’s team wants more football for girls in schools

Tickets sold out within 24 hours. As soon as the England women’s football team announced their return to Wembley for a match against the United States in October, the demand was immediate. Here in England, you only talk about them.

It’s been less than a week since the “lionesses” won the women’s Euro Cup at home, with a record audience in the final against Germany – 87 thousand spectators at Wembley – and audience. More than 17 million people, a quarter of the UK population, watched England’s first football title on television since the 1966 World Cup. Exactly a year after the men’s team lost the Euro final in the same stadium.

The turning point for women’s football in England was in 2012, when Great Britain played the London Olympics at home and played a match against Brazil in front of 70,000 people at Wembley. The potential was clear. Over the years, the women’s league (WSL) has become fully professional, and sponsorship and television broadcasting of games have increased.

The investment culminated in the hiring of Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, who, in charge of her country, had a European title in 2017 and a World Cup final in 2019 under her belt. England debuted in the Euro with 14 matches unbeaten. The “momentum”, a term the English love, was there.

Achievements are also in the details. The England team used an app to monitor the athletes’ menstrual cycles, and before the tournament, biomechanics experts developed custom tops for them, combining breast support with comfort. According to a study by the University of Portsmouth, it was one of the factors that helped to improve performance.

The Euro title now, of course, sparks the debate on how to build on this success and further develop women’s football. The champions wrote an open letter to the two UK prime minister candidates calling for more equality in schools, and citing data from the Football Association of England, the FA, which shows that only 63% of girls in the country have the opportunity to play football. in physical education classes.

The WSL season starts on September 10th and more matches will be broadcast on free TV. Because of the success at the Euro, some clubs have already announced that demand for tickets has increased. And they will certainly be pressured to hold more games for women’s teams in their main stadiums, which today are almost exclusively destined for men’s teams.

Manchester United, for example, have yet to disclose whether they have plans to host any of their women’s games at Old Trafford.

Euro top scorer Beth Mead and Arsenal captain Leah Williamson normally play at Meadow Park outside London with a capacity of 4,500, not the Emirates, which can hold 60,000 people. Nineteen of the 23 Euro champions play in the English championship. The business opportunity is clear.

A few years ago, I was delighted to see an all-girls football school in a London park. I hope they saw the England title and were inspired. Many of us women grow up feeling that many spaces do not belong to us. Fortunately, in almost all professions, this is changing. As the saying goes, “you must see to be.”