Euro 2022: How tournament can inspire a new generation of female footballers

Improving the nature of women’s grassroots football is something which has long been identified as necessary, but could Euro 2022 finally be the catalyst for meaningful and permanent change? 

England’s success at the FIFA World Cup in 2019 sparked a new legion of women’s football fans. Lucy Bronze, Ellen White and Nikita Paris became inspirational icons for the younger generation and helped incite many to take up the game themselves. 

Indeed, the World Cup semi-final between England and the United States at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais was watched by almost 12 million people and prompted 850,000 new women to take up football in the UK by the end of the year. 

Euro 2022 could prove to be even more significant. The tournament is set to be the biggest major women’s competition of all time and the potential for growth is limitless. 

To put this into context, the opening match of the tournament is sold out. All of England’s group games are sold out. The final at Wembley is sold out. In total, more than 400,000 tickets have already been purchased by fans.

As Nadine Kessler, UEFA’s chief of women’s football, has frequently reiterated: “This UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 will be groundbreaking from start to finish.”

The tournament comes at a crucial time for the women’s game. Interest in the sport is growing, largely thanks to Sky and BBC’s new broadcasting deal with the WSL, but the gap between the men’s game remains vast. 

Sport England’s 2021 Active Lives survey found that just 0.7 per cent of women aged 16 and over played some form of football, compared to more than five per cent of men. 

As a result, the UK government has announced a review into the women’s game, including grassroots football, in an attempt to bridge the gap