Chelsea boss Emma Hayes insists selling out Wembley is the ‘new norm’ for women’s football, with her side set to play in front of 90,000 fans in Sunday’s FA Cup final against Manchester United.
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The attendance will break the previous record of 49,094 which was set in last year’s final when the Blues beat Manchester City 3-2 after extra-time.
Hayes, who has visited Wembley six times as a manager, said the women’s game has now reached the point where a sold-out Cup final is ‘no longer a pipedream.’
‘For me as a women’s football fan it means everything,’ Hayes said. ‘It has been something I’ve sat here on numerous occasions championing intentionally, pushing and demanding because I always knew that this day wasn’t far away.
‘I was disappointed the crowd wasn’t bigger last year. Then obviously the Lionesses winning (the Euros), I always knew there should be no excuse this year from anyone — clubs, all the stakeholders.
Chelsea boss Emma Hayes insists selling out Wembley is the ‘new norm’ for women’s football
The women’s FA Cup final will be watched by 90,000 fans at Wembley on Sunday afternoon
‘This is the new norm so hopefully we are talking (next) about putting semi-finals at neutral venues next year and making that an even bigger event because that is the next evolution of the game.’
The winners of today’s final will take home £100,000 in prize money — four times the amount Chelsea received for lifting last year’s trophy — but clubs will not pocket any of the gate receipts.
Asked whether the increase in prize money is enough, Hayes said: ‘Never. As much as I say never, I think we constantly have to think about the pyramid and we have to think about teams, whether they’re coming up into the top division or teams in the lower end of the division, how we’re going to keep replenishing the system.
‘So, no, it’s not enough — but that’s across the women’s game in general.’