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Mark Sampson
Mark Sampson guided England to third place in the Women's World Cup in Canada earlier this year. Photograph: Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images
Mark Sampson guided England to third place in the Women's World Cup in Canada earlier this year. Photograph: Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty Images

England women seek further progress on back of surge in WSL popularity

This article is more than 8 years old
Coach Mark Sampson hopes trip to China will reap rewards
WSL attendances show 48% year-on-year increase

Women’s football in England remains on an upward trajectory with league attendances rising rapidly in the wake of the Lionesses’ third place at the World Cup. Crowds in the FA Women’s Super League have soared this season, showing an overall 48% year-on-year increase as the average climbed to 1,076.

Mark Sampson, England’s coach, knows that to maintain this domestic momentum England will need to keep building on the progress which saw them beat Germany to the bronze medal at Canada 2015.

“We’re in a fantastic place at the moment but we’ve got to keep going,” the Welshman told the Guardian. His side exceeded expectations by reaching the World Cup semi-finals and they currently look set to canter through their European Championship qualifying group for Netherlands 2017. Yet Sampson is well aware he cannot afford to tread water.

“If we’re going to have a real chance of winning a major tournament in two years’ time, we need to keep improving,” he says. “We know our results can help grow the game domestically so it’s important we keep up with countries like Germany and France, who do not take defeats lightly and will not be standing still.”

Part of that process will involve Sampson and his players marking the conclusion of the league season by travelling to China later this month for a friendly international tournament. Based in Yongchuan, they will face China and Australia in an exercise designed to expose them to new challenges while intensifying competition for places.

“We’ll be coping with different tactics, different playing styles, a different climate and different food,” says Sampson. “But to continue the development of our international programme we need to play matches against top-10 nations as often as possible. To do so in a tournament format is a fantastic opportunity to tick those boxes for us.

“It also provides the squad with the chance to experience a different continent and the unique football cultures that come with it, so it’s a great opportunity for us to continue to grow as a group. China will offer some new players the opportunity to experience an international senior tournament and lay down a marker for a regular place in the squad.”

Last Sunday Emma Hayes’ Chelsea secured the WSL title in front of a 2,710 crowd as the League programme came to an end but, up the road in Manchester, 3,180 fans turned out to see Manchester City secure Champions League football by finishing second.

Although BT Sport’s viewing figures of live WSL games are understood to show no real rise on last season, Sampson is delighted by the increased numbers at grounds. “The growth in support for domestic clubs has been fantastic,” he says. “With the number of professional players increasing, fans are seeing just how technically good women’s football has become and how high the standard is now.

“But they are also drawn to the honesty and integrity of the women’s game. Those qualities appeal immensely to the wider public and, as the game becomes increasingly professional and the pressures become greater, the challenge is to not lose them. I don’t see why not though; why we can’t have a highly competitive league in which the players retain that all important honesty and integrity?”

Kelly Simmons, the FA’s director of development, is similarly thrilled to see so many more people attending matches regularly. “The sheer increase in attendances we’ve seen this season shows just what appetite there is for the women’s game in this country,” she says.

“2015 has been a landmark year for women’s football, with the success of the England team at the World Cup and the first ever Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley, and this is another marker of just how far the game has come. We’ve seen across clubs that fan-bases are really growing and that matches have attracted general football fans as well, particularly after the World Cup. There is so much fantastic work taking place at clubs to drive attendances and raise awareness and this success is testament to that.”

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