Key Trends for the landmark tournament
The UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 got underway on 6th July, with England winning the curtain-raiser against Austria. A strong start for the hosts. With a month of football still to look forward to, Cam Scott – a member of our Women’s Sport Strategy team – picks out five things to look out for in the tournament ahead.
1. High hopes for hosts’ Head Coach
Host nation England are one of the favourites for the tournament and are in red-hot form under the leadership of their recently-appointed Head Coach, Sarina Wiegman. The Dutchwoman – who is regarded as one of the best coaches in women’s football – has guided England to 12 wins from her opening 14 games in charge. Wiegman has past European Championship success under her belt having led Netherlands to the trophy in 2017 and will be looking to repeat that feat this time round.
2. Attendance records set to be shattered
Tickets for the final at Wembley sold out within an hour of going on sale, meaning that a new attendance record is expected to be set on 31st July. The current record for any Euro’s match – men or women – stands at 79,115, while the record for a women’s European Championship Final is 41,302. UEFA has also announced that 500,000 of the 700,000 available tickets have been sold, meaning the event is on track to more than double the 240,000 attendees at the 2017 tournament.
3. Fans flock from around the globe and millions tuning in on TV
There are expected to be over 96,000 global visitors from 95 territories heading to the UK for the tournament. Those that can’t make it in-person will be keeping up with all the action from afar and it’s expected that the international broadcast audience could reach over 250 million across more than 195 territories.
4. Unprecedented commercial activity
The FA has announced that it is anticipating ‘the biggest women’s European sport event in history’ and expects it to deliver over £54 million in economic activity. With 18 partners in total, there will be an unprecedented level of sponsor activity too – demonstrating the rising commercial interest in women’s football. Whilst not partners of UEFA, our clients Lucozade and Nuffield Health are two brands who will also be activating around the tournament, leveraging their respective partnerships with The Lionesses and The FA.
5. Brightest stars performing on the biggest stage
This year’s tournament will feature not only the best players on the continent, but some of the best players in the world. Norway’s Caroline Graham Hansen, Spain’s Jenni Hermoso, Denmark’s Pernille Harder, France’s Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Netherland’s Vivianne Miedema and England’s Ellen White are among those to watch out for at the tournament.
