AS Roma Women set a new attendance record for women’s football in Italy during last night’s game against FC Barcelona Femení.
Some 39,454 season-ticket holders and paying spectators attended the Stadio Olimpico for the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) quarter-final, which Roma lost 1-0 to the Spaniards.
The attendance beat the previous Italian record, which was the 39,027 non-paying fans assembled at a game between Juventus and Fiorentina in March 2019.
Some 91,553 spectators watched Barcelona beat Real Madrid in the UWCL at Camp Nou in March 2022. The women’s side then went on to break the record again just three weeks later, when an even more impressive 91,648 attended Camp Nou to watch the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against VfL Wolfsburg.
Meanwhile, National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) Commissioner Jessica Berman says that season ticket-holder numbers are up 20% year-on-year just ahead of the start of the 2023 season.
While market-specific data hasn’t been revealed yet, the introduction of two clubs in California has helped to boost numbers.
“We’re up 20% in season ticket holders on a league-wide basis. And we’ve already surpassed the number of sales for opening weekend, and we still have five days to go,” Berman said. “Hopefully with all the media … and everything that’s coming this week — we know that that will just continue over the next five to six days. So we’re excited to break some records.”