Kayleigh Green is confident the Women’s EUROs will see more supporters than ever at WSL games this coming season.
Nearly 29,000 supporters watched England beat Spain at the Brighton & Hove Community Stadium on Wednesday night and our Wales international hopes to see those who attended at Albion’s matches when the new campaign starts.
After the success of the Women’s EURO tournament, will we see a knock-on in terms of WSL crowds?
A special night. 💙 Good luck for the rest of #WEURO2022, @Lionesses! 🤞 pic.twitter.com/Sbw7zoTBN1
— Brighton & Hove Albion Women (@BHAFCWomen) July 21, 2022
The Euros have promoted women’s football to another level and I just hope that clubs will take on the baton and run with it. What England did really well was use their media platforms and promote the team so well.
We obviously play most of our home games in Crawley, so we probably have to try that bit harder in terms of getting people to support us. I’m sure as a club we’ll grab this opportunity though, otherwise we would have missed a trick.
We’ve had a couple of the Lionesses’ Euro games at the Amex this summer. Did you go?
Sending us to the #WEURO2022 semi-finals in STYLE.@StanwayGeorgia 🚀
— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 21, 2022
I went to the Norway game and it was a fantastic occasion. Norway were in my top-five teams to watch out for before the tournament got underway, and with the pressure England might be under following their opening game against Austria, I thought it might be a draw.
But fair play to the team, they rose to the occasion and got the result they deserved. I thought Brighton also did the occasion justice; the pitch was phenomenal, the crowd was incredible and the weather just added to the feed-good factor.
We go into the new season with a home match against Aston Villa. How do you envisage that going?
Opening games can be difficult to gauge, given you’re not quite at your levels still. You’ve done your pre-season, got your fitness up, but there’s nothing like an actual competitive game to find your true fitness.
There’s also a bit of nerves there. Like us, Villa have made a few changes this summer, and in Natasha Harding, my Wales team-mate, they’ve brought in an experienced player who will be a good addition to their side. It will be a tough game but if we stick to the game-plan we know we are capable of beating any team on our day."
Three members of Albion's WU21 squad - Megan Curran, Ella Humphries and Maisie Miller - have been named in the Wales under-19 squad for a training camp next month.