West Ham have revealed that ensuring their women's team play matches at the London Stadium is a key priority for the club moving forward. West Ham Women have only played one previous match at the former Olympic Stadium, back in 2019, when 24,790 fans turned up to watch West Ham lost 2-0 to Tottenham.
After the upcoming weekend's fixtures, a weekend that is known as Women's Football Weekend, the Hammers will be the only side in the Women's Super League to have not played a single match at their club's men's stadium this season.
It is a surprising fact when you consider some of the huge attendances achieved at WSL matches this season. The 32,970 fans that turned up at Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-1 took the overall attendance figures for the season to 717,721, surpassing last season's record of 689,297.
Last month, Arsenal sold out the Emirates Stadium for their match against Manchester Women bringing in 60,160 – the biggest-ever attendance at a women's club football match in the United Kingdom. With West Ham lagging behind other clubs, manager Rehanne Skinner spoke about potentially playing at the London Stadium ahead of this weekend's fixtures. She said:
“I know that it's a big priority for the club,” said boss Rehanne Skinner. It's something they are working towards making happen. All of us want to play in stadiums and we want to try keep evolving the stadium forward in that sense.
“Hopefully, whether it's this year or next year, we get a solution for that and we can do that more frequently.”
Is there a demand for women's matches at the London Stadium?
There has unquestionably been a boom in women's football since the Lionesses won the European Championships in 2022. More fans than ever are turning up to watch women's football which has forced club's to host more matches at the men's stadiums.
West Ham women play their home games at the Chigwell Construction Stadium and attendances this season have been higher than ever before. They have had a “significant increase” in season ticket sales this season and sold the stadium out for their 2-1 win over Arsenal in February.
The reason why the club haven't played more games at the London Stadium is likely to do with the fact that the club don't own the stadium. As per their contract with London Legacy Development Corporation, a Women's match would count as an “additional fixture” which would bring a hosting charge of up to £400,000.