Women’s football: When the women’s teams of Atletico Madrid and Barcelona met at the Wanda Metropolitano in March 2019 an attendance of 60,739 was recorded. This set a new record for a LaLiga women’s game, breaking the previous record that stood for 99 years.
That contest that ended 2-0 in favour of the away team signalled the beginning of the rise of women’s football. However, a year later the pandemic hit, which saw the entire game of football being ravaged.
In the meanwhile, women’s football in Spain started reaching more and more people with matches being telecasted on television regularly.
When people knew that Real Madrid and Barcelona would face one another in the Champions League knockouts, a huge crowd was expected to turn up.
However, beating all expectations 70,000 tickets were sold within a few days of being made available in January, following the draw. However, the tickets were initially offered for free for club members. While for non-members ticket prices started at 9 euros (£7.50). Some 70,000 tickets were snapped up within a few days of being made available in January. And only a small number remain available.
Women’s football: New record set with 91,553 turning up for the Champions League quarter finals
Last night eventually recorded an attendance of 91,553 for a match that ended 5-2 in favour of the hosts. The record beat the previous one for a women’s match when 90,185 attended the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl in California, USA.
A lifelong fan of the Barcelona women’s team, Lorena Lopez expressed her happiness about the progression of the women’s game to BBC.
“These stadiums are the symbols, the icons of these clubs,” she said.
“Giving the women a chance to play at these stadiums makes these matches special. And helps the sport progress because it attracts more supporters to the women’s game.”
Miki Soria, a journalist with SPORT, has spoken about the future of women’s football.
“I’m completely sure we’ll see this more often moving forward, but we have to understand the context,” she said.
“For now, I don’t think it’s feasible to play every match at the Nou Camp. We’re still far away from that.”
