Where WSL teams play their football continues to be a hot topic and every club approaches things differently. This usually includes a groundsharing element - either with their men's team, with an EFL team or another sport entirely. For many, this includes both.
But each season, we see incremental shifts in where women's teams play. Over the last six months, Sky Sports have been looking at what the future could hold, including: Manchester United and Liverpool groundshare with rugby teams, while Tottenham, West Ham, Brighton and London City Lionesses all play at lower league club grounds. Everton and Man City also have their own designated stadiums that they do not share with another senior team.
Most of these also play a handful of games at the club’s main ground. These are usually marquee matches against those in the top four or local rivals to entice fans, with more space for both serious and casual supporters to attend. For example, Liverpool often play the Merseyside derby at Anfield and attract a big crowd, while Manchester City and Chelsea hosted each other at the Etihad and Stamford Bridge respectively last season.
London City do not have a men's club ground to fall back on, but have to have another option in case the Copperjax Community Stadium is unavailable. Due to fixtures being changed, they played their home WSL fixture against Chelsea at The Den, rather than at Bromley. This was not well received by some Millwall Lionesses fans - the club's women's team - due to the history between the two.
They accused London City of "stealing" Millwall's position in the women's game, leading the EFL club to apologise. They added they had no further plans to host London City beyond the Chelsea fixture, and would reinvest any revenue into Millwall Lionesses. Across London, West Ham have not played a game at the London Stadium since 2019, which has been a contentious point among some players in recent years.
However, they face a unique challenge in that the club do not own the stadium and the current concession agreement in place only covers men's matches, friendlies and some youth games. Should the women's team play there, there would need to be a large hosting charge - which is significantly higher than the men’s matches - something that the women’s budget would not be able to accommodate. That being said, the Hammers have enjoyed a record-breaking season at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in recent history, adding to the notion that smaller grounds, played at consistently, can be vital.
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