Section: Sport:Football:Women’s Super League

ARSENAL are to host all of their women’s top-flight home games at the Emirates next season.

Today the club revealed 11 WSL fixtures will be played at the 60,704-capacity ground during their 2025-26 campaign. 

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They say this follows a 20 per cent rise in crowd numbers last term compared to the previous season with more than 415,000 tickets sold. 

However Arsenal also stated these plans will be “subject to scheduling with fixtures for both the Premier League and WSL 2025/26 seasons to be confirmed later this summer. 

Last term their average crowd attendance at the stadium was 34,110.

And for the first time the club is set to introduce Emirates Stadium season tickets for women’s team home fixtures at the ground.

Following their Champions League triumph last month the Emirates will serve as the venue for any knockout games their WSL side competes in should they reach this phase next term.   

However Women’s FA Cup and League Cup fixtures will continue to be hosted at Meadow Park home they share with National League men’s side Boreham Wood FC.

And their Women’s Champions League phase games will also take place at the ground which has a 4,500 capacity. 

Arsenal managing director Richard Garlick said: “Today’s announcement is another bold step forward.  

“It’s an opportunity to create a special home for our team and allow more opportunities for our community, and a new generation of supporters to watch the European champions.  

“It’s the start of another chapter in the story of our women’s team just two weeks on from us lifting the Champions League trophy with our community here in Islington.”

“We keep moving forward together, and we’ll continue to fuel and inspire each other.”

Gunners women’s boss Renee Slegers added:  “I’m so proud of the journey we’ve been on with our supporters this season. 

“From Boreham Wood to the Emirates, on the road to every WSL and European destination we visited, and of course all the way to Lisbon, they’ve shown up.

“We’ve fuelled each other to an historic season for our club.”

“For us, this is just the beginning, and bringing every WSL match to the Emirates is another step for more supporters to be part of this special journey. 

“We’ll come back next season, with fire in our hearts, more determined, more ambitious, and more together than ever.”

Today’s announcement comes four months after the women’s team drew a crowd of 56,748 to their 5-0 North London WSL derby defeat of Tottenham at the Emirates. 

However this figure is more than 3,300 less than the number that flocked to watch them beat Manchester United and Spurs in February and March last year.

Back then crowds of 60,160 and 60,050 watched the Gunners’ 3-1 and 1-0 defeats of their WSL rivals.  

Arsenal’s announcement follows the team finishing as runners up in last term’s title race behind Chelsea who were crowned champions for the fifth time in a row in May. 

Last month Slegers’ players lifted a Champions League trophy following their dramatic 1-0 defeat of Barcelona in Portugal. 

Their triumph in this year’s decider in Lisbon saw Arsenal win the contest for the second time in the club’s history.

The Gunners remaining the only English side to date win the women’s tournament. 

Arsenal women’s football director Claire Wheatley said: “We felt that winning connection all season.

“To share in a Champions League win with our supporters in north London after returning from Lisbon inspired us all to push on.

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Of the team’s WSL home games being played at the Emirates next term Wheatley added: “Our players and staff know what it means to walk out in front of a packed Emirates Stadium. 

“It brings a sense of pride and belonging to all of us.

“It fuels a relentless drive to win and is a crucial part of how we create the best conditions for our women’s team to succeed.”

SARINA WIEGMAN rejected suggestions of England being in crisis after naming her squad for this year’s Euros.

The Lioness chief backed her group to ignore outside noise following player retirements and a surprise withdrawal.

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Wiegman was speaking yesterday, a day after England vice captain Millie Bright, 31, announced her decision to withdraw from being selected for the contest. 

This follows goalkeeper Mary Earps, 32, and playmaker Fran Kirby, 31, both calling time on their Lioness careers three years after helping the team become Euros champions.

On the Daly Brightness podcast yesterday, Bright opened up on the reasons behind her choice and including wanting to get back to her very best physically and mentally.

The 88-capped centre-back, and Chelsea captain, played an influential role in her club treble trophy win this season  with the Blues going unbeaten in 22 top-flight games

Bright’s withdrawal and Kirby’s and Earps’ retirements before the July 2 start of the Euros in Switzerland, prompted questions on whether all is well behind the scenes with England. 

When asked if England are in crisis, Wiegman said: “For me, it doesn’t feel like a crisis at all.

“That is not the case. We know what is happening in the team and there is competition going on in the team. 

“My experience (as England head coach) is that there is always noise. 

“We expect noise until we go into the tournament. 

“The difference between the 2015 (World Cup) and 2017 (Euros) to now is that the visibility of the women’s game has increased so it seems like there is more noise. 

“What we say all the time is that the level of the game has increased so much so the demands on the players have increased a lot. 

“The demands in the WSL and also internationally and also with the Nations League. 

The level and demands have increased there too. 

Then the attention around – the players are household names now – that is lifechanging. 

When asked about Bright’s withdrawal Wiegman revealed she was saddened by it.

And she hopes the Lioness heroine will be back to her best soon.

The Englad boss added: “It was sad and disappointing.

“It’s not nice when you don’t feel well physically and mentally and I just hope she feels better soon.

“Players are not robots. We try to support them as well as possible. Hopefully many players stay fit and healthy.

“They (Bright, Earps and Kirby) have done so much for us and for English football. 

“They have been playing in the tournaments since I have been here so that’s hard to replace. 

“But there are also other players who have done really well.

“They get the opportunities now to step up and show [what they can do].”

Wiegman’s squad selection involved the head coach looking to the future with seven players appearing in their first major tournament.  

Six of whom are aged from 19 to 23. 

Among them is Arsenal’s Michelle Agyemang whose call-up followed her stunning international debut goal during England’s 3-2 Nations League loss to Belgium in April 

Her cameo performance after coming on in the 80th minute of that game is her only senior England appearance to date.  

And Wiegman backed the striker to add a new dimension to England’s attack 

The Lioness chief said:  “We will see what she can bring. 

“I have seen her in training sessions and what she did in Belgium – she can bring something different. I hope she can show that.”

England took the unexpected route of revealing their Lionesses Euros squad via a video 

Three Lions stars Harry Kane and Bukayo were among the celebs naming selected players. 

Among the players who made the cut is Chelsea’s Lauren James with the forward battling to be fit in time for the tournament.  

On July 5 England will begin their fight to remain Euros champions with a Group D clash with France. 

Wiegman said: “I hope Lauren will be available for the first game of the tournament. 

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“I don’t know for how many minutes yet, we need to see that. 

“We still have one friendly against Jamaica, I hope that she’ll make that one too.”

England’s squad includes six Arsenal stars with Leah Williamson, Lotte Wubben-Moy and forwards Beth Mead, Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly all selected. 

With Earps retiring there were also call-ups for goalkeepers Anna Moorhouse and Khiara Keating as back-up options to England’s new No1 Hannah Hampton.

LEAH WILLIAMSON urged Arsenal to keep on winning silverware following fans’ raucous celebrations of their Champions League triumph.

Like fellow club icons Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, the Gunners star wants to be remembered for major trophies wins as well as loyalty to the team.

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Williamson, who broke down in tears after her side’s Champions League final defeat of Barcelona, joined team-mates for a public celebration of their triumph at the Emirates today. 

The centre-back put in one of her best performances of her career as Spain’s club football queens were shutout during their clash in Lisbon, Portugal on May 24.  

Her efforts helped her side secure Arsenal’s second Women’s Champions League trophy win following the club’s first triumph in 2007. 

And the lifelong Arsenal fan wants her legacy to be about loyalty combined with winning the biggest prizes with the Gunners. 

Williamson said: “You have to win trophies and I’m so proud of what we do off the pitch, who we are, how we lead and how we carry ourselves. 

“I’m so proud of that but I want to win and Arsenal should be winning.

“I’ve looked at that legacy all my life and I’ve been aware of that and I wanted to contribute to it. 

“I don’t want to end my career just being loyal.

“Loyalty is great but loyalty with trophies is just something else.

“This week I’ve spoken to Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, people I watched (when I was young). 

“They were incredible and they won and that’s why they are remembered the way they are. 

“I’m proud that we’re the only team in the land (to have won the Women’s Champions League). 

“Anybody that’s Arsenal – red and white – is going to have a summer to remember.”

This morning thousands of fans flocked outside the Armoury in front of the stadium as  Williamson and her team-mates held their European trophy aloft. 

And Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe had supporters cheering following her leading expletive laden chants concerning rivals Tottenham

After a mix of lighthearted and moving short speeches delivered by several players and head coach Renee Slegers, Williamson shared her reflections on her team’s success. 

And she paid a touching tribute to skipper Kim Little, who is currently the team’s long-serving player having made more than 300 appearances.

Williamson added: “If you look at this celebration today, the turnout and what we’ve done over the last couple of years, this is the stuff that makes you stay. 

“(After our win) I dropped to my knees because of the tears and then I went to look for Kim. We were just sobbing.

“Kim Little is everything I would want to be as a person.

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“I’m just glad (for her) because you don’t get recognised sometimes and that’s unjust.  

“You need to win trophies and to win the biggest things to get what you deserve. Kim deserves everything.

“People had the game of their lives and I genuinely don’t know if anyone (on the team) that put a foot wrong in terms of the game plan and what it was meant to be.”