August 21 – Leigh Sports Village in Greater Manchester will replace Nottingham Forest’s City Ground as one of the nine venues for the Women’s Euro in 2021, the English FA announced on Tuesday.

The summer tournament will be played across eight cities with Nottingham dropping out as host city. The City Ground will require further refurbishment which will prevent Nottingham from staging Euro 2021 matches. The stadium in Leigh is the current home of Manchester United Women and a host for Rugby League World Cup games in 2021.

The other host cities and venues are Brighton & Hove (Brighton & Hove Community Stadium), London (Brentford Community Stadium and Wembley Stadium), Manchester (Manchester City Academy Stadium), Milton Keynes (Stadium MK), Rotherham, (New York Stadium), Sheffield (Bramall Lane) and Southampton (St Mary’s Stadium).

Wembley Stadium will host the final. In 2020 England’s national stadium will also host the final of the men’s European Championship. England qualify automatically for the finals and the official match schedule will be released later this year.

“The confirmation of these nine venues is an important milestone for us as a host nation on our journey towards the final tournament in July 2021,” said the FA’s director of women’s football Sue Campbell. “Looking ahead, hosting a home EURO in 2021 offers a huge opportunity for us to continue to push the profile of women’s football and to inspire more women and girls to get involved in the game.”

The FA said 700,000 tickets will be released for the 2021 tournament across the 31 matches, creating a potential average attendance in excess of 20,000 per match. No previous edition of the finals has averaged an attendance of more than 8,676.

England have sold 55,000 tickets so far for their friendly game with Germany in November.

Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1601111551labto1601111551ofdlr1601111551owedi1601111551sni@o1601111551fni1601111551