‘We’re buzzing’: grassroots women’s football teams look forward to Euros

Naomi Short has been playing football on and off for nearly 30 years and cannot wait for England to host the Euros this week, but she’s even more excited that her 13-year-old daughter will witness the biggest ever women’s sporting event. “It’s brilliant – they’ve got the future I probably would have wanted,” she says.

Short, 45, plays for Longford Park Ladies FC in Manchester, a grassroots team that was set up by mothers five years ago to train alongside their children when there were hardly any teams around for women who just wanted to play for fun.

Now the team is getting excited for a summer of women’s football along with thousands of other grassroots and amateur sides. Many of these were set up or massively expanded after a successful Women’s World Cup in 2019 catapulted England’s Lionesses into the limelight.

Short says “loads” of people at Longford Park Ladies FC have secured tickets for Euros matches, although she laments that the number of tickets could not meet unprecedented demand. Still, she is heartened that more than half a million have been sold and considers it a sign of the sport’s meteoric ascent. “It’s good that people want there to be more seats available and to play at bigger stadiums.”

Other female footballers who spoke to the Guardian shared their elation that England is hosting the tournament this July, with many securing tickets for matches as well as booking tables in pubs for sold-out fixtures, organising tournaments and taster sessions, hosting screenings and throwing parties.

The goal is to celebrate beyond the FA’s official fan festivals while boosting the sport’s profile further in the hope of replicating the explosion in signups that followed the Women’s World Cup.

Some are doing this in