FA defends choice of stadiums for Women's Euros after criticism over smaller venues

The Football Association insisted on Tuesday night it has no regrets over its choice of stadiums for next month's Women's Euros after facing criticism that larger venues should have been chosen.

The tournament begins  at Old Trafford on July 6 and that fixture plus England's other group-stage matches in Brighton and Southampton are among those to have sold out so far, with Wembley only being used once, for the sold-out final. Total ticket sales for the tournament have already surpassed 450,000 and are on course to be at least double the 240,045 cumulative attendance for the previous Women's Euros in the Netherlands in 2017.

Smaller stadiums such as Leigh Sports Village (capacity 12,000) and Manchester City's Academy Stadium (7,000) are being used, with no host cities in the North East or the South West. leading to claims that the FA was being unambitious.

The FA's chief executive Mark Bullingham said that very few grounds wanted to host Euro 2022 matches when the stadiums were originally being selected in 2019, adding: "We actually had to persuade a few clubs and cities to come forward, so we are actually very happy with where we got to. We think we have got some brilliant venues, but if you think people were knocking our door down to host matches, that was not the case.

"The absolute truth of it is we did a tender process and there were very few that came forward in wanting to host the women's Euros. Overall, I think we are really proud of the fact we have sold [450,000] tickets, the record for women's Euros."

Chris Bryant, the FA's head of tournament, had previously told Telegraph Sport that the sudden recent growth of the women's game means his team was taking on an event that was much bigger than the one for which