England women set for record attendance at Wembley

Earlier this month, 29,238 fans watched England’s defeat by Brazil at Middlesbrough, which was a new record for a Lionesses match outside Wembley

A record attendance for a women’s match in the United Kingdom could be set after England announced their Wembley friendly against Germany has sold out.

The game on 9 November at the 90,000-seat stadium could beat the previous record of 80,203 for the 2012 Olympic final between United States and Japan.

The record for an England home match is 45,619 for the 3-0 defeat by Germany at Wembley in November 2014.

During the 2012 Olympics, 70,584 also watched Great Britain beat Brazil 1-0.

If a new mark is achieved it would represent another milestone in women’s football after the England team reached a third consecutive major tournament semi-final at the 2019 World Cup in France.

During that tournament, the record UK TV audience for a women’s football match was broken four times, culminating in a peak of 11.7 million for the loss to United States in the last four.

Earlier this month, in England’s first home match since returning from the World Cup, 29,238 fans watched the 2-1 defeat by Brazil at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium, which was a new record for a Lionesses match outside Wembley.

The current official world record for any women’s football match is 90,125 for the 1999 World Cup final in Pasadena, California.

Sue Campbell, FA director of women’s football, said: “This is a magnificent show of support for the squad and staff after a tremendous year of progress for the England team.

“My thanks go to everyone who has bought a ticket as we never take such support for granted.

“We started the year with success at the SheBelieves Cup, had a wonderful World Cup including securing Olympic qualification and it is only fitting that we get to end 2019 on a high – and can also say our own thank you to those who have backed us all the way.

“What will make it even more special is to see everyone who has bought a ticket turn up on the day to help smash the all-time record on English soil. My message to them is to come and be a part of history.”