The England Women’s national football team will play at the King Power Stadium on 13th October, in the second leg of their World Cup qualifying playoff against Greece.
After finishing second in their World Cup qualifying group, the Lionesses will have to go through the Playoffs, two rounds of two-legged fixtures, to qualify for the World Cup next year in Brazil. If they beat Greece over two legs, they will face either Slovakia or Ukraine for a place at the World Cup.
The Lionesses hope to build on the significant amount of success achieved over the past decade- the team has consistently reached the semi-final stage at least of every major tournament since 2015, most notably winning the Euros back-to-back in 2022 and 2025 and reaching the World Cup Final in 2023.
Despite the incredible success of the team, how have these achievements been celebrated?
On one hand, the performances of the Lionesses have brought increased attention to the women’s game, with the 2022 Euros win widely being seen as a landmark moment that changed women’s football history forever. Following the 2022 Euros Final (which was at the time the most viewed TV programme in the UK in 2022 with a peak audience of 17.4 million people), viewership and attendances of women’s football matches increased significantly. For example, season tickets for to English Women’s Super League (WSL) games saw large sale increases, with attendance figures growing by 227% by the end of 2022 from 2021, with the English second tier also going up by 86%. There has also been an increase in women and girls playing football. The increase in attention has continued to follow the Lionesses. Wembley stadium consistently sells out anytime the team plays there, and similarly to 2022, the 2025 Euros Final was the most-watched single programme of 2025 on British television with an audience of 16.2 million people in the UK. Additionally, the 2023 World Cup Final was viewed by a peak audience of 14.8 million people in the UK.
However, despite the positive effects on the growth women’s game, the Lionesses’ achievements have remained undercelebrated compared to the men. For example, England have received bank holidays for the men’s national team reaching certain stages of tournaments for the first time in decades- meanwhile the Lionesses have not received the same treatment despite achieving far more success.
Additionally, to some extent attitudes towards the women’s game remain unchanged, particularly from men. Such attitudes can be seen through comments made across social media platforms. On social media, insults regarding attendances of women’s matches and the ability of women’s players are common. The worst came after Euro 2025, in which there was a high increase in misogynistic comments towards the Lionesses. Much of these comments were aimed at the player Chloe Kelly- despite having standout performances at the tournament in which she essentially nearly single-handedly won the Euros for England (assisting both goals and scoring in the penalty shootout in a dramatic comeback win over Sweden in the quarter finals, scoring the winning goal at the end of extra time against Italy in the semi-final and assisting the equaliser and scoring the winning penalty in the shootout in the final against Spain), she received a high amount of misogynistic comments online under clips of her simply celebrating the victory. Such comments harshly and unfairly demeaned her celebrations ‘cringe’, as well as mocking her appearance. On top of the wave of online misogyny, during the tournament defender Jess Carter received racist abuse online following the quarter-final against Sweden, prompting the team to condemn the abuse.
There is no doubt that the Lionesses are a successful side and are incredibly important role models for women and girls in not just football but across all sports. However, not everything is positive. The team and their achievements are still undercelebrated compared to the men’s team, and the ever-present misogynistic comments show that negative attitudes towards the women’s game persist.