Man Utd Women's biggest attendances

Man Utd have one of the most passionate fan bases in the WSL

Manchester United have created a stir in women’s football since making the overdue decision to reform a first-team squad in 2018.

The fledgling team immediately attracted loyal and vocal support, many of whom were existing fans of the men’s side and largely new to the women’s game.

United’s lure was clear from the beginning when nearly 5,000 fans attended Leigh Sports Village for the club’s very first competitive home game against Reading in the Continental Cup.

As a second tier team in the Women’s Championship during that debut 2018/19 season, they were consistently getting crowds that far surpassed numbers many WSL clubs were recording, often in excess of 2,000 even against opposition not considered glamorous.

When United lifted the Championship trophy after the final game of the season against Lewes in May 2019, more than 3,700 were at Leigh to see it.

That momentum carried over to the WSL in 2019/20 and United enjoyed two of their best home crowds in the early weeks of the season with the visits of Arsenal and Liverpool. Even a game on a freezing January day against Bristol City brought in more than 2,000 fans.

But the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic midway through 2019/20 and the subsequent cancellation of the season was ultimately quite damaging. The momentum from United's successful 2018/19 campaign, further stoked by England’s run to the 2019 World Cup semi-finals, was halted.

An entire season behind closed doors in

2020/21, including one fixture played at a hauntingly deserted Old Trafford, left attendance figures down when fans could return in 2021/22. Suddenly, only the big games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal were getting the good numbers.

That problem wasn’t exclusive to United, although a first game in front of fans at Old Trafford did set the highest WSL attendance for the 2021/22 season at over 20,000. Supporters also turned out in better numbers of the final home game of the campaign against West Ham back at Leigh.

Euro 2022 was always expected to have a positive impact on WSL attendances and, like many clubs, United experienced that when the club record for a game specifically at Leigh was substantially bettered with the visit of Reading at the start of 2022/23.