Since the WSL became professional in 2018, there have been considerable changes in investments and audiences.
Still, the outstanding change was in response to England’s women winning the European Championships at home in Wembley.
Sarina Wiegman and her Lionesses beat 2-1 in July 2022. This tournament catapulted women’s football even further into the public domain, and the government and sporting bodies demanded more.
With Euro 2025 beginning at the start of July, both the numbers and anecdotal experiences suggest there’s been considerable growth between the two tournaments.
Vicki Sparks, BBC Commentator, said: “There’s been an increase in investment and interest, which has been great.
“Sky and the BBC have driven domestic coverage and brought the women’s game to a broader audience.
“And with professionalism comes an increase in quality because, of course, players are going to be better athletes if you resource them to train full-time rather than two evenings a week after a full day of work elsewhere.”
This graphic shows the wage difference each year for players in the 2023/24 season for the men’s and women’s teams from WSL on the sides who have cemented themselves in the league and their male counterparts in the Premier League.
Chelsea’s men earned 39 times more than their women colleagues.
However, the women’s side have made eye-catching recent moves in the most recent season to sign new players, breaking the million record with the capture of Naomi Girma.
Players have not, as such, asked to be equal to their male counterparts but to be paid fairly.
Sparkes added: “I don’t think it’s ever going to be the same as the men’s, but the beauty of the women’s game is that it hopefully won’t suffer the same downfalls.”
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Mary Earps started playing for Doncaster when she was in school, where she was paid £25 a game for 14 games a year.
In a 2023 interview with Marie Claire, she said: “It’s not a lot of money and it certainly wasn’t a professional wage.”
In the same interview, Chelsea captain and England International Millie Bright maintains that while there are good wages for female footballers, it’s about ensuring every female footballer is offered that.
International wages differ as both English men and women footballers have been paid £2,000 per game since 2020. Since 2007, the Lions and Lionesses have donated their earnings to charity multiple times.
While they earn less overall than their male counterparts, which has led to disputes with the FA over bonuses, some players have expressed dissatisfaction with the amount they receive.
But there has been progress in other areas. As part of a 2024 revamp of London Overground, the Lionesses had a line named after them. The Lioness Line runs through Wembley with a view of the arch in which they won England’s first women’s trophy and second for the country.
Chloe Kelly, who scored the game-winning goal against , is featured on the TfL 92 bus.
In response to the Euros win, the government enlisted the help of ex-Chelsea midfielder Karen Carney to create a report into the state of women’s football in England that was commissioned in September 2022.
In November 2023, the government announced 30 million in investments in 300 facilities in response to the July 2023 Raise the Bar report.
The government also pledged that girls in England would get equal school football access.
A report on exercise levels in young people in England found that 68,000 more girls have started playing football since the Lionesses Euros’ success.
There are more than 300 women’s football teams in London and over 60 ‘Wildcats’ clubs for girls aged 5–11, which offers non-competitive football for those looking to get into the sport for the first time.
Women and girls playing football have increased by 56% in the last four years. The 2022-23 season saw a massive increase in teams, with almost 1500 new teams ed following the European Championship win on home soil.
The data shows that those players ed in women’s football in 2020 and 2024 has doubled, however it is significantly lower than the registration of men which jumped a similar amount after the men’s euros that was held in 2021.
It shows that progress has been made but not an amount to be on par as the men’s sides.
The London FA have broken down girls into groupings:
Wildcats sessions are non-competitive introduction to football for girls age 5-11
Squad sessions are a non-competitive introduction to football for girls aged 12+
Just Play sessions are a non-competitive introduction for girls/women ages 16+ and or 18+
The data shows a steady increase, and while recovering from the pandemic, girls were still involved in football.
Amanda Lewis, Football Development Manager (Women & Girls), said: “We’ve doubled our participation number since 2020, across all the age groups as well as coaching and the refereeing workforce.
“We are a little bit behind the growth.
“We expect to see that growth continue with the resources we are putting in place to make sure the practice is there to allow the growth to occur.”
The London FA hopes from the 2023/24 season to see a massive increase in girls over 16, while the younger wildcat groups maintains its steady increase as more girls are taught in school and have access to the game and role models.
Sparks said: “The primary catalyst for girls playing football will be different for each individual, but the inspiration of the Lionesses winning the Euros in 2022 has clearly had a huge impact.
“I met a West Ham fan and his young daughter.
“The daughter had never been interested in football before Euro 2022, but had gone to a couple of games at the tournament and had absolutely loved them.
“She now plays for both her school team and her local team and dreams of being a footballer.
“In a very real sense, the whole course of her life has been changed by what those women achieved.”
Ahead of the women’s 2022 Euros, the National Lottery and Sport England ed the host cities London, Trafford, Manchester, Sheffield, Rotherham, Milton Keynes, Wigan & Leigh, Brighton & Hove, and Southampton.
It was awarded approximately £100,000 to address gender disparity in the sport and create recreational women’s football opportunities for their communities.
Nike also ed the legacy project by providing each host city with post-tournament funding to escalate the work in equality, diversity, and inclusion projects, further delivering on legacy objectives and maximising the tournament’s impact.
Sparks said: “I’m so excited to see the future of the women’s game, because I think we’ve only scratched the surface of where it can go.
“The talent pool is ever widening, as more young girls start playing football for the first time – the interest and investment from broadcasters and sponsors continues to push the game to new heights – and as someone who just loves football, it’s amazing to see more and more people falling in love with the game in general, and celebrating the achievements of these formidable female footballers.”
Sir Sadiq Khan has the London Fund, the capital’s community sport fund initiative. He also aims to partner with the WSL to enhance the visibility of women’s football, which was part of his re-election campaign’s Mayor of London.
Chelsea’s Foundation in November 2024 announced a five-year mission to drive girls’ participation in football, building ambition and ion for the game in the next generation.
The multi-year “always on” programme will aim to promote habitual change in nine to 14-year-old girls, instilling long-term positive habits from key years when girls stop being involved in physical movement and beyond into early adult life.
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