Arsenal Women making Emirates Stadium their home would be giant leap forward

A s Leah Williamson and Jonas Eidevall reflected at the Emirates Stadium on Arsenal’s success in reaching the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 10 years, they had more than exciting upcoming fixtures on their minds. Captain and manager were united in stating it was a realistic vision for the team to play every game at the club’s 60,000-capacity ground.

It would be a huge statement for Arsenal to relocate there and the discussion alone demonstrates how quickly the conversation has moved on. In the WSL, Leicester play at the King Power Stadium and Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium used by their men’s team, but the impact of one of the top sides – England’s most successful women’s football team – putting their women’s team on the stage previously reserved for their premier product would be enormous.

In many ways Arsenal would be far ahead of the pack. The West Ham defender Lucy Parker this week criticised her club for failing to host a women’s game at the London Stadium since 2019, after it was announced the men’s under-18s would play their FA Youth Cup semi-final there next Thursday.

“Five years ago, if someone would have said that Arsenal’s long-term plan is to move permanently to Emirates Stadium, people would probably have asked: ‘How is that going to happen?’” Eidevall said. “But now I think people understand that might be a realistic vision for the future.”

Reading 8 out of 8Leicester 8 out of 8Aston Villa: 4 out of 8Arsenal: 3 out of 8Manchester United: 2 out of 8Brighton: 1 out of 6Chelsea: 1 out of 7Everton: 1 out of 8Liverpool: 1 out of 8Manchester City: 1 out of 8Tottenham: 1 out of 8West Ham: 0 out of 8

Williamson echoed those sentiments after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Bayern Munich had