It’s been a BIG summer of global football – Euro’s qualification, some incredible WSL x Aus x NWSL collabs and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Now we’re moments away from the first stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League first stages and the start of the WSL on 20th September…

It’s set to be the most well-attended WSL campaign in history with big ambitions to beat the 717,721 people who turned up for clubs last season.

So, whilst we have a brief moment, let’s get organised and figure out where we need to be and when to catch a bit of the main stadium action…

Arsenal: The Emirates

Credit: Getty Images/Clive Rose

It’s always a vibe at the Emirates and it’s pretty much always a sell-out. Last season, Arsenal secured back-to-back sellouts and made history by encouraging 60,160 fans to their 1-0 win against Manchester United (Feb 2024). The Gunners average league attendance was an 31,428.

If that wasn’t incredible enough, Arsenal now hold the top three highest attended WSL games in history: 59,042 (Arsenal v Chelsea in Dec 2023) and 54,115 (Arsenal v Liverpool in October 2023).

This season, they’ve promised us 11 games at the Emirates; eight WSL and three more depending on UEFA Women’s Champions League progression. Meadow Park (4,500 capacity) will only host three home games against Crystal Palace, Leicester City and West Ham.

Aston Villa: Villa Park

In a historic move for the women’s side, Villa announced this summer that Villa Park will now host all of their WSL home games; a significant increase compared to the five played there during the last campaign.

The remaining home fixtures, including the Adobe Women’s FA Cup and FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup ties, will be played at Walsall’s Poundland Bescot Stadium.

Brighton: American Express Stadium

Credit: Brighton & Hove Albion

No main stadium fixtures announced yet. All the women’s games will take place at the Broadfield Stadium.

Chelsea: Stamford Bridge

Credit: Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea will play three home games at Stamford Bridge. The rest of their fixtures will be hosted at the much-loved Kingsmeadow. Despite having a capacity of only 4,850, it’s the perfect place to still get that up close and personal feel, sitting meters away from Lauren James and new manager Sonia Bompastor.

Last season, the UWCL semi-final second-leg against Barcelona was played in front of a sellout crowd (39,398) at the Bridge. The Blues will be looking to beat that this year and we expect more UWCL fixtures to be announced depending on how the club get on in Europe.

Crystal Palace: Selhurst Park

Credit: Crystal Palace FC

The Eagles have landed in the WSL for the first time in the club’s history and they have quite the list of top tier fixtures to show case at Selhurst Park.

Last season, they made club history by selling over 5,566 tickets to watch them lift the Women’s Championship trophy. This year, with fixtures like this, we have no doubt another record will be smashed.

Everton: Goodison Park

Credit: Liverpool FC

Only one fixture has been announced at Goodison Park and what a fixture it is – just the Mersyside Derby – one of the most fiercely competitive red and blue fixtures in the WSL.

Leicester: King Power Stadium

Credit: Leicester City FC

These guys are main stadium OG’s. The women’s side have used the King Power Stadium as their home ground since 2021. This season is no different – all 11 WSL home games will feature here. We love to see it.

Liverpool: Anfield

Credit: This is Anfield

Three fixtures will be played at Anfield this season. But fans will have double the fun this year as the club confirmed they’d signed a ten-year lease to relocate from Prenton Park to the 18,000-capacity Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens.

Manchester City

Credit: Manchester City FC

City will host three WSL games at the Etihad Stadium. Their remaining fixtures will be played at the 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium across the road which sits within City’s elite training ground facility.

Manchester United

Credit: Manchester United FC

Yaaanited have three fixtures in the diary for Old Trafford with the remaining games being played at Leigh Sports Village. There have been rumours recently of the women’s side moving permanently to a re-developed OT in the future, with their men’s team re-homing to a new nearby stadium but we’ll wait to see if there’s any legs in this…

In the meantime, United have sensibly chosen two mid/low-table fixtures against the Hammers and Palace, where they’ll be expecting to secure wins but they couldn’t miss the Manchester derby now and with City burned by a near-miss with the title, that last fixture will be spicy as hell.

Spurs: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Credit: Getty Images/Paul Harding

It’s an important season for the club. A million miles away from once being seen as the WSL newbies (entering the league in 2020), they’re strong mid-table warriors with an eye on top four and a love for disruption.

They finished last year strong with a history-making FA Cup run which took them to Wembley in May (defeated 4-0 by Manchester United).

They’re not messing around with the main stadium fixtures this year – just the three biggest and the best opposition to showcase how far they’ve come, with all their remaining games to played at Brisbane Road (capacity of 9,721).

West Ham: London Stadium

Credit: West Ham United

No main stadium fixtures have been announced yet. All the women’s games will take place at the Chigwell Construction Stadium.

On Sunday, Premièr Ligue side Paris St. Germain (PSG) were crowned winners of the inaugural Perth International Football Cup after defeating Manchester City 1-0 in the final at HBF Park. 

The tournament represented a celebration of women’s football on the international stage as European teams demonstrated their marketability worldwide during this pre-season. 

Three Women’s Super League (WSL) teams, Leicester City, West Ham United and Manchester City, travelled to Australia’s west coast, but it was the French side who clinched the title with an 88th minute penalty – taken by 23-year-old midfielder Jennifer Echegini after Kerstin Casparij tripped Tara Elimibi-Gilbert in the box. 

Manchester City, however, can take heart from their performance against last season’s Champions League semi-finalists and were perhaps unlucky not to get more from the game after Bunny Shaw was denied a strong penalty shout in the first-half.  

The Citizens came up against 33-year-old goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek whose heroic performance was everything you might expect from a No.1 defending their starting shirt from Mary Earps. No mean feat given Earps’ recent credentials – 2023 World Cup runner up, 2022 European Championship winner and FIFA Best Goalkeeper 2022 & 2023 to name a few.

Credit: Mary Earps X

Though PSG were victorious, they failed to over-awe in either of their games, only beating West Ham 1-0 through 23-year-old striker Romee Leuchter’s goal in the 23rd minute. 

The oft-repeated line that pre-season is about little more than fitness must be a caveat in all cases but, for West Ham fans, the tournament will certainly have caused some concern. 

The East London club fell to a 5-2 defeat to WSL rivals Leicester City in the third/fourth play-off match and, as a result, finished bottom of the pack. It could have looked far worse had 30-year-old striker Viviane Asseyi’s late brace not salvaged what was a 5-0 scoreline until the 90th minute.  

For Leicester, and new manager Amandine Miquel, the tournament gave plenty to be hopeful about. The Foxes held Man City to a 0-0 draw, only losing on penalties, before triumphing over West Ham. 

It was an opportunity for all clubs to show off new faces with the tournament rife with debutants. City’s new keeper Japan international Ayaka Yamashita impressed in their penalty shootout victory over Leicester, while marquee signing Vivianne Miedema scored the winning spot-kick. 

Credit: Manchester City

Among a number of other summer signings, Earps made her debut for PSG, and midfielder Chantelle Swaby and goalkeeper Kinga Szemik made their first starts for Leicester and West Ham, respectively.  

In many ways, the pre-season tour was not just an exercise in football preparation but in showcasing European football on a different continent – and it succeeded.  

The added draw of Matildas in each of the WSL sides (midfielder Katrina Gorry, striker Mary Fowler, defenders Alanna Kennedy and Courtney Nevin) attracted sizeable crowds for pre-season friendlies with over 15,000 in attendance for Sunday’s final between City and PSG. 

As Australia continues to see domestic women’s football grow after the success of last summer’s World Cup, undoubtedly it will become a familiar trip for European teams looking for a more global pre-season in future. 

Astutely, amid mandatory zoo trips to hug koalas, the clubs also took the opportunity to spread the buzz around the Perth Cup with local sides. Most prominently, Man City visited A-League side Perth Glory while Kristie Mewis fittingly visited her fiancee’s eponymous sports centre, the Sam Kerr Football Centre. 

Leicester City took part in a bracelet exchange with local Sorrento FC U12’s and U13’s, while there was also a fan event on Friday arranged for the tournament itself.  

In taking advantage of the growing international interest, the European sides can grow their global brand image as a women’s club and attract fans willing to invest around the globe.  

It is another sign of the steps being taken in the women’s game with Arsenal and Chelsea also having successful trips stateside to face NWSL teams in the USA.  

While ending a perennial debate over whether the NWSL or WSL is the better league might have been a useful byproduct of Arsenal and Chelsea’s respective victories over Washington Spirit and Gotham FC, more importantly, it is indicative of the increasing global attraction of the WSL. 

Owing to the success of this summer’s international forays, we can expect to see the international pre-season tour become a firm fixture of the women’s calendar as the WSL realises its true global market value. And maybe even see the Australian and NWSL teams venture over here…