How record-breaking attendances have begun a new era for women’s sport

This time two years ago, the idea of 91,648 fans filing into the Nou Camp to watch Barcelona Femení was unimaginable.

This was not because of the perceived obscurity of women’s football. In fact, 2019 was a year for bumper attendances in the women’s game.

Around 57,900 fans packed out the Parc Olympique Lyonnais for the Women’s World Cup Final, while 38,262 spectators broke the Women’s Super League attendance record by watching the North London Derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

But just months later, the COVID-19 pandemic began and sport around the world came to a standstill. When it did return, events took place behind closed doors, in empty, soulless stadiums.

This is why a world record attendance for a women’s football match would have been so hard to envisage in May 2020. The idea of 91,648 people crammed together in one venue would have sent shivers down the spine of medical professionals everywhere.

There were understandable concerns about the pandemic’s impact on women’s sport, particularly because it wasn’t just women’s football that was experiencing a boom in the immediate months before the global health crisis began.

Only a few weeks before the world started to shut down, Australia played host to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The final was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground packed with 86,174 spectators, an attendance which broke numerous records.

It was the largest attendance for a women’s cricket match, for a women’s or men’s T20 World Cup final and for a women’s sporting event in Australia.

Once the pandemic started, there were those who wondered whether women’s sport would ever regain the momentum from events such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Women’s T20 World Cup.

Fast forward two years and