Women’s football aims to supersize crowds on historic weekend
All games in the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship will be played in the home club’s main stadium for the first time ever on the weekend of 16 and 17 November.
The historic showcase of women’s football will see matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Stamford Bridge, Villa Park, St James’ Park and Goodison Park during what will be an international break for men’s teams in the top two tiers.
WSL fixtures include Brighton and Hove Albion-West Ham United at the American Express Stadium, Spurs-Arsenal and Chelsea-Manchester City on the Saturday, with Aston Villa-Crystal Palace, Leicester City-Manchester United at the King Power Stadium and Everton-Liverpool the following day.
In the Championship, Sheffield United will play Sunderland at Bramall Lane, Newcastle United host Southampton and Charlton Athletic meet Portsmouth at The Valley. All five second-tier games are on Sunday.
Women’s teams have increasingly moved fixtures from smaller secondary grounds to the larger stadiums previously reserved for men’s teams as the game has grown in popularity.
Arsenal have been among the pioneers and will this season play all of their home WSL games at the 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium.
In a separate initiative, the Women’s Professional Game is encouraging fans to attend the North London derby at 1.45pm before heading south for Chelsea’s game against Manchester City at 5.30pm.
The campaign, dubbed Ground-Hop Day, is a collaboration with inclusive fans’ collective Baller FC.