Women's Football: What Changed After 2022

For most of its history, women's football grew in the margins: small crowds, little television and players who often had other jobs. Then, in the space of two summers, two tournaments changed what the game looked like and what people expected of it.

The first was the European Championship in England in 2022. The second was the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023. Here is what happened at each, and what the numbers say about the change.

England, summer 2022

The 13th UEFA Women's Championship was held in England from 6 to 31 July 2022, a year later than planned because of the Covid-19 pandemic. England was the only country to bid. Matches were played at ten venues in eight host cities.

Crowds came in numbers the tournament had never seen: 574,865 people attended its 31 matches, an average of 18,544 per game. The final at Wembley was the moment it all came together, as England beat Germany 2-1 after extra time to win their first major title.

Why that final mattered

Winning at home, at Wembley, in front of a full stadium gave the women's game something it had lacked in England: a shared national moment. A country that had waited decades for a men's trophy watched the Lionesses win one in front of their own fans.

The victory turned players into household names and sharpened arguments about how girls are offered football at school and how the women's league is funded. Those arguments did not end with the tournament, but the scale of the crowds made them impossible to dismiss.

Australia and New Zealand, 2023

A year later the FIFA Women's World Cup was held from 20 July to 20 August 2023, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the first edition with more than one host nation. It was also the first with 32 teams, up from 24, with matches at ten venues in nine host cities.

Total attendance reached 1,978,274, an average of 30,911 across 64 matches. Spain won their first title, beating England 1-0 in the final at Stadium Australia in Sydney on 20 August 2023, though their triumph was overshadowed by the scandal involving the president of the Spanish football federation, Luis Rubiales, after the final.

Money follows the crowds

The clearest sign of change was money. The total prize pool at the 2023 World Cup was 110 million US dollars, 80 million more than at the previous tournament in 2019, nearly four times as much. For the first time, FIFA also paid prize money directly to the players rather than only to their federations.

The gap with the men's game is still enormous, and many players and campaigners argue that pay and investment have not caught up with attendance. But the direction is clear, and the 2023 tournament proved that a women's event can fill large stadiums for a month.

England again, and a rivalry with Spain

The next European Championship, held in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July 2025, showed that 2022 had not been a one-off. Total attendance reached 657,291 across 31 matches, about 21,203 per game, beating the record England had set three years earlier.

The final brought back the pairing from Sydney. Spain, the world champions, met England, the holders, and this time England won, on a penalty shootout, to keep their title and win their second European championship. In three summers, the two countries had met in two major finals, the kind of repeated rivalry that sustains interest between tournaments.

The averages tell the story of growth across the three tournaments. Euro 2022 drew 18,544 fans per match, the 2023 World Cup 30,911 and Euro 2025 21,203. The World Cup figure reflects its larger stadiums in Australia and New Zealand, but the European number rising again, with a smaller host country, shows that the 2022 crowds were not simply a home-nation effect.

For supporters, the change is visible in what they can now take for granted: tournaments that fill big stadiums, finals on prime-time television, and players whose names are known well beyond the sport's own fans.

What changed, and what has not

Before 2022, women's football was often treated as a promising project. After 2023, it is a proven product with its own stars, rivalries and audiences. Expanded tournaments mean more countries take part, and more girls see players like them on the biggest stages. All of these milestones came within three summers, between July 2022 and July 2025, a pace of change the women's game had never seen.

Much remains unfinished: facilities, pay, coverage in non-tournament years and fair access for girls to play at school. The next big tests are already on the calendar; our round-up of the year's sport events has what is coming, and our short history of the World Cup shows how long the men's tournament took to grow into what it is.