The huge audience for England’s semi-final is testament to the progress made by the women’s game, particularly at the grassroots, but that growth is still uneven

The L-word has almost become a form of punctuation for virtually any debate about women’s football in England.

Conversations with players, coaches, administrators and supporters invariably feature multiple references to the quest to create an enduring “legacy”. Things have reached the point where it has turned into a mantra, helping make sense of everyone’s role while leaving all those involved speaking a common language.

“We want to leave a legacy for all the young girls wanting to play football, that’s what it’s all about,” said Jill Scott, the veteran England midfielder shortly after the Lionesses suffered an agonising 2-1 World Cup semi final defeat to the defending champions, the USA, in the unforgiving heat of Lyon on Tuesday.

If English women’s football is to catch the USA’s, schools will be key Read more

Phil Neville echoed such sentiments. “Our common agreement is that we want to create a legacy,” said the Lionesses’ coach. “That common goal means egos have now been put to one side. It’s not about individual egos and golden boots. It’s just about winning games – and creating the legacy.” On Friday he added: “A lot of people talk about us inspiring people but the ultimate inspiration is actually winning a trophy.”

Winning the World Cup would have accelerated this process but England will not be lifting the trophy in Lyon on Sunday; their current horizons extend to the more modest hope of securing the bronze medal England also collected four years ago at Canada 2015 in Saturday evening’s third place play-off against Sweden in Nice.

Although the Lionesses have won numerous hearts and minds in a transformative month in France, no one is quite sure how their performance will shape that “legacy”.

As spirited and encouraging as the thrilling loss to the USA proved, it has revived fears about the fragility and sustainability of the still shallow-rooted professional women’s game in England. While a small pool of top players earn high five-figure salaries, others command sums much closer to the minimum wage and Women’s Super League (WSL) crowds averaged under 1,000 last season.

Considering 11.7m tuned into the BBC to watch England v USA, making the semi final the most watched television broadcast of 2019, eclipsing both the denouement of Britain’s Got Talent and the Champions League final, that represents quite a disconnect.

The challenge is to persuade some of those armchair viewers to watch Steph Houghton, Ellen White and company live and Barclays’ new, three-year, potentially watershed, £10m sponsorship of the WSL should help. “It will create a snowball effect,” said the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes. “I can’t see anything getting in the way of England becoming the place where the world’s best players want to play.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Steph Houghton (left), the England captain, in action for Manchester City against Arsenal in the WSL. The league’s profile has risen but average attendances remain below 1,000. Photograph: Lynne Cameron for The FA/REX/Shutterstock

First though a league preparing to welcome newly promoted Manchester United next season needs a vastly improved broadcast deal when the current agreement with BT Sport – broadly free in exchange for the priceless publicity – expires in 2021. The Football Association is keen to sign a contract with a free-to-air terrestrial broadcaster, thereby maximising exposure but the issue is complicated by ongoing discussions between the FA and the Premier League with a view to the latter ultimately taking control of the WSL. “I think it’s really positive, look at the brand the Premier League have,” said Neville on Friday. “It was never the FA’s intention to fully run the league for ever. The Premier League are looking to use their brand, to use their power to get involved in something taking off. I think it’s something everyone in football and the FA would welcome.”

A feasibility study has been commissioned and although it would be several years before any such switch takes place the former sports minister Tracey Crouch is among those harbouring mixed feelings. “If future broadcast deals included both the Premier League and the WSL that could be transformational for the women’s game financially,” she said. “But a possible negative is if the uniqueness of the WSL was diminished by commercial pressures.”

Unlike many male counterparts, WSL and England players are highly accessible to both fans and the media and, almost uniformly, attach considerable importance to their responsibilities as legacy creating role models. By way of a 21st century twist, they like to present themselves as “badass” women – in other words strong, independent and indomitable.

Keeping hold of them is becoming a problem for WSL sides. With several clubs still recording hefty financial losses, a handful of infinitely wealthier European teams have started poaching leading Lionesses. In the past two years alone Manchester City have lost England’s Lucy Bronze, Izzy Christiansen and, most recently, Nikita Parris to Lyon. City may be a major WSL force but they cannot match the French and European champions’ willingness to triple or even quadruple players’s salaries.

Geography is another problem, with Manchester City currently the most northerly WSL club, leaving a huge swathe of England above the M62 with no easily accessible top-flight football.

While the growth in grassroots participation is little short of phenomenal – the FA believes 1.8m women over 16 in the country now play the game regularly – this boom requires regional sustenance.

Significantly, six of Neville’s semi-final starting XI – Bronze, Houghton and Scott included – began their careers at Sunderland. For many years the Wearside club served as a talent factory, honing a steady stream of future internationals but last year the men’s parent club withdrew financial support and Sunderland Ladies were demoted two divisions.

Redressing this imbalance falls on the plate of Sue Campbell, the FA’s head of women’s football and, in her former guise as chair of UK sport, the strategist behind Team GB’s unprecedented 2012 London Olympics medal haul. “I’d love to see the people who’ve been inspired by the Lionesses translate that into support for their local team,” she says. “We’d love for more fans to attend matches regularly and help grow league attendances. This World Cup has created a massive opportunity to do that. Tokyo 2020 and the Euro 2021 will help us maintain this incredible momentum.”

Quick guide Euro 2021 Show Hide The UEFA Women's European Football Championship will take place between 11 July and 1 August 2021 in England. 16 teams will compete for the title, which is currently held by the Netherlands. England qualify automatically as hosts, with the other places being determined by qualifying matches which take place from August 2019 to October 2020. 8 stadiums in 7 cities will host matches. They are:

Brighton, Community Stadium (capacity 30,752)

London - Brentford Community Stadium (17,250)

London - Wembley Stadium (90,652)

Manchester - Manchester City Academy Stadium (4,744)

Milton Keynes - Stadium MK (30,583)

Rotherham - New York Stadium (12,088)

Sheffield - Bramall Lane (32,569)

Southampton - St Mary’s Stadium (32,384) You can register your interest in buying tickets at the FA's website.



Lady Campbell hopes Neville can lead a GB side to gold at next year’s Tokyo Olympics before England’s hosting of the 2021 European Championship finals fulfils her blueprint for an enduring legacy. “Women’s football in England’s in a good place,” she said. “But I want to move into an iconic place.”