While the legacy of Euro 2022 is clear, everyone involved in women’s football knows there is still a long way to go.
“This is another massive ignition moment,” said Nikki Doucet – the chief executive of WSL Football, which has taken over responsibility of the WSL and the WSL 2 this season.
“In some ways I think we’re even more set up to capitalise on this opportunity now that we have the independent company set up – it’s our job to take the inspiration and run with it as fast and hard as we can.”
Most WSL clubs are reliant on financial support from a men’s team, although London City Lionesses will become the first team with no affiliation with a men’s club to play in the women’s top flight this season.
Outside the top flight, clubs’ positions are much more precarious. Blackburn became the latest example as they decided to withdraw from the second tier, now WSL 2, for this season as they could not meet the financial and operational requirements of the league.
Last summer Reading, who were in the WSL as recently as two years ago, decided to withdraw from the second tier and drop to the fifth because of financial issues.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the WSL was on a “good trajectory” and success at Euro 2025 will “turbo-charge” that along with plans for grassroots growth.
“We want to get to the point where you know we should have the same number of girls and women playing football as boys and men, and until we’ve done that we’ve got a job to do,” he said.
FA director of women’s football, Sue Day, agreed there was much more to be done for women’s football in England.
“We want more matches on the TV, we want more opportunities for fans to be able to get involved, we want more money to be able to pay the players with, we want more kids playing in schools,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme.
“So we have to really capture this moment and turn it into everything we all want football to be for girls.”
The England team have already shown in the aftermath of their latest triumph that they will continue to make their voices heard.
Speaking at a reception at Downing Street on Monday, manager Wiegman said: “We need some more investment. We’re not there yet.
“In England we’re up there but England needs to stay the trailblazer, it needs to be the big example – the players first but also the Football Association, the clubs, the government, the country, the fans. Let’s keep being the trailblazers.”
And the players are already planning their next move.
Midfielder Georgia Stanway said: “The point is now we don’t have to keep winning to create a legacy and create change… but the fact that we win, it opens the doors so much more, gives us so much more opportunity to make change.
“We’ll discuss as a player group what it will look like over the next few weeks and what we want to go into. But this is a massive door for us to step into.”
