British Crown Heir Prince William and German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Olaf Scholz) on the podium, packed in London’s legendary Wembley Stadium – the Mecca of European and world football – who could have imagined this a few years ago , talking about women’s football. Especially in the UK, where women’s football as a sport was officially banned until 1971.

What was the victory of the “lionesses”

But Euro 2022, which ended on July 31 in the UK with the home side’s victory over eight-time continental champions Germany, broke many records, becoming a true turning point in the history of women’s football worldwide.

The victory of the “lionesses” – as the players of the women’s team in England are called, on whose shirts the 150th anniversary logo of the country’s football association is represented – three lions in a heraldic shield – 87,192 spectators watched from the stands at Wembley, according to official protocol.

And if we count accredited journalists, security guards, stadium workers, members of the delegations of both teams, we can assume a much higher number. And it was an absolute record for attendance at the final matches of the European Championship for over 60 years of men’s tournament history and nearly 40 years of women’s tournament history. The previous achievement was achieved in 1964, when 79,115 spectators at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid witnessed the Spanish victory (2-1) over the USSR team.

Euro 2022 caused a huge audience boost not only in stadiums but also on TV screens. Behind the final match, including extra time, in which the England women’s national team brought their country’s first serious international football title in 56 years and, at the same time, did not allow the German girls to exact revenge for the Bundestim men’s defeat by the English in the 1966 World Cup final in Germany, an average of 17.9 million people was observed. In fact, one in three viewers on Sunday night chose women’s football: the market share among the general public was 64.8%, and among those aged 14-49 this figure was even higher – 71.0%.

Record for the number of spectators

According to research association AGF Videoforschung, this is the largest coverage of women’s football matches ever measured. The previous record belonged to the 2011 World Cup, held in Germany. Then, nearly 17 million spectators watched the quarter-final match, in which the German national team unexpectedly lost to Japanese players. Interestingly, less than nine million people watched the final of the 2013 European Football Championship, when the Germans won the title for the eighth time in their history, on TV.

The captain of the German football team Alexandra Popp

Euro 2022 showed that technically women’s football is rapidly approaching men’s football. Today, after Germany captain Alexandra Popp’s two phenomenal goals against French midfielder or England midfielder Alessia Russo to score a third against Sweden, no one can say that women can’t shoot or pass, precise passes or graceful feints.

By the way, the fact that Rousseau is already called Lassie in the UK (by analogy with Messi) also speaks volumes. Very close, apparently, is the time when in the same Germany, where women’s football is rapidly gaining popularity, you can see children playing football in the streets on whose shirts will not be named Manuel Neuer (Manuel Neuer) or Thomas Müller (Tomas Müller), and the same Merle Froms (Merle Frohms) or Alexandra Popp.

A new milestone in women’s football

The experts highly appreciated the quality of the tournament and the final match. “I’m sorry for Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and her entire team, as they weren’t able to crown their great performance with a title. But after the first disappointment, they will be able to remember this tournament with pride,” said the coach. coach was quoted as saying on Twitter. Germany national football team Hansi Flick (Hansi Flick) group of their fans.

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg – coach of the German women’s team (to the referee’s right)

Martina Voss-Tecklenburg herself – coach of the German women’s football team, four-time European champion and Bundestim world runner-up – believes that the phenomenal success of Euro 2022 should lead to fundamental changes in women’s football. “We want equal opportunities, better stadiums, more spectators, more TV airtime, better start times,” she said, adding that infrastructure, training conditions for players and coaches and football players’ salaries, which are still very different from those of their male counterparts.

Olaf Scholz, who met with the Bundestim immediately after the final match to offer words of consolation to German players, according to Voss-Tecklenburg, promised to meet with her as soon as possible to resolve these issues and also help Germany to relocate. women’s football tournament of the highest level.