England’s Toone urges fans now in love with women’s football to stick around

Ella Toone has appealed to the half a million fans who have cheered the Lionesses on to Euros glory this summer to come and support them at WSL games.

The Manchester United playmaker, who scored England’s first goal in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Germany at Wembley, is grateful to the trailblazers who have lifted the women’s game to a new level but also believes this generation have “left the shirt in a better place”.

A record crowd of 87,192 witnessed Sarina Wiegman’s team earn England their first major trophy since the men won the 1966 World Cup on the same turf but many of the greater challenges the women’s game have had to overcome were wiped away over the past month.

Toone is conscious, even in her moment of glory, that the next victory for the game will be achieved if the engorged crowds at this thrilling international tournament spill over on to domestic terraces when the Women’s Super League kicks off in mid-September.

The 22-year-old said: “I think a lot of people have fallen in love with women’s football this summer. That’s what we set out to do. So hopefully the crowds that we’ve had this summer we can get into our grounds at club level and some more fans at the stadium to be on the journey with us.”

Toone started playing for United at the age of eight and returned to the club she supports when the senior team were formed in 2018. Although they have embedded themselves in the top half of the WSL, average crowds in the division stand at about 2,000. The Football Association has set a target of 6,000 by 2024 and, with the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand next July, the game has never had such a high profile.

“It’s massive now, absolutely massive,” Toone said. “We can’t forget everyone who came