The WSL record attendance could be broken this weekend after Arsenal revealed that their clash with Manchester United on Saturday, 17 February has sold out. The Emirates Stadium has a capacity of 60,704, a figure that would break the current WSL record attendance of 59,042 should all fans who have purchased a ticket turn up on Saturday.
The match is set to kick off at 12:30 in North London and is a big match for both teams. Arsenal are one place above Manchester United in the league table but both teams are hoping to lift the title this season which makes a real six-pointer with nine games of the season to finish. A win for Arsenal could see them move to within three points of leaders, Chelsea.
A pattern of growth in the WSL
Arsenal women usually play their home matches at Meadow Park, a small stadium that is 12 miles away from the Emirates but are staging six of their eleven home league matches at the 60,704-seater stadium this season. The Emirates holds 55,000 more seats than Meadow Park but Arsenal Women's supporters have already shown that interest is there to host more matches at the larger stadium.
The four highest WSL attendances of all time have all come at matches played at the Emirates Stadium with the current record standing at 59,042 from a match played between Arsenal and Chelsea in December 2023. The team's manager, Jonas Eidevall has already said this season that it is a “realistic vision” for Arsenal women to play all games at the Emirates soon. He added:
” We're are we're moving away from the idea that it's a one-off to sell out the big stadium,” Eidevall added on Friday. What we want for the sustainability and the growth of the game is to have consistency in selling out big stadiums. That's the next step for women's football. That's the next step for WSL.”
WSL record attendance: The current top five
- Arsenal vs Chelsea (59,042) – Emirates Stadium, 10/12/23
- Arsenal vs Liverpool (54,115) – Emirates Stadium, 01/10/23
- Arsenal vs Tottenham (47,367) – Emirates Stadium, 24/09/22
- Arsenal vs Chelsea (46,881) – Emirates Stadium, 15/01/23
- Manchester City vs Manchester United (44,259) – Etihad Stadium, 11/12/22