As the Lionesses roar their way through the Euros, why women’s football is the fastest growing sport right now

It’s a historic time for women’s football in the UK.

Nearly 70,000 people were at Old Trafford to watch England’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 opener against Austria last week – a record for the Women’s European Championships – while over 4 million tuned in to watch the Lionesses’ 1-0 win.

Now, as the England Women reach the quarter finals of the Euros – shattering another tournament record with an 8-0 win over Norway and overcoming fellow Home Nation Northern Ireland – it’s almost unfathomable to believe that just over 100 years ago the sport was actually banned by the FA.

Back then in 1921, the committee declared that it was ‘unsuitable for females and should not be encouraged’.

However, fast forward to 2022 and women’s football has kicked back to become the fastest rising sport in the UK.

With big brands and media companies finally throwing their support behind the Women’s Super League and Arsenal’s Kelly Smith being named as one of the 50 most influential footballers of all time, alongside the likes of Pele and Messi by football magazine FourFourTwo earlier this year, it’s clear that the narrative surrounding women’s football is finally changing.

But it’s not just on the pro-side. For women and girls across the UK it’s providing opportunity and, as dramatic it might sound, really changing lives.

Teenager Isabelle Traore tells Metro.co.uk that she was at risk of exclusion when she started playing. The 15-year-old from Sidcup in Kent was loud and disruptive at school and often in trouble for speaking back to teachers. She spent a lot of time in detention. 

‘I got told off a lot but I never realised I was the one causing the problems,’ she explains. ‘I always thought everyone was against me. Football calmed me down.’

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