A Women’s Super League Hall of Fame is being launched to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the competition, the Football Association announced.
A shortlist will be drawn up by an expert panel with the first inductees named ahead of the 2021/22 season.
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Today marks 10 years since the league’s first match, a 1-0 victory for Arsenal over Chelsea in front of 2,510 fans at Tooting and Mitcham FC.
The subsequent journey of growth the WSL has been on included a record crowd of 38,262 attending Arsenal’s 2-0 win against Tottenham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season.
Having been an eight-team, semi-professional structure in 2011, the league, which now has 12 clubs, went fully professional in 2018.
Barclays – also sponsors of the Hall of Fame – becoming its title sponsor ahead of last term.
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Last month the FA announced a new broadcast deal that will see WSL matches shown on Sky Sports and BBC One and Two over the next three campaigns, while clubs in the division – and in the Women’s Championship – will receive a proportion of revenue.
Simmons, the FA’s director of the women’s professional game told Sky Sports News: “The game is unrecognisable from where it was 10 years ago. Pre-WSL, the game really was amateur and it’s now a fully professional, thriving women’s league – one of the best leagues in the world.
“If you look ahead to next season – the new partnership we’ve got with Sky and the BBC, some 57 live games and the opportunity to have some of the biggest audiences in this country – it will be one of the most-watched leagues, probably after the Premier League.
“We had some record attendances pre-Covid. We can’t wait to get the fans back and build on some big attendances.
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“In some senses it has exceeded expectations that we’ve got what is regarded as one of the best professional women’s leagues in the world now.
“We need to continue to grow revenue. We’re still reliant on men’s football club money and that’s been hugely important in its development.
“We need to continue to grow our audiences, fan base and revenue so that we can be on a really strong footing for the future.
“We’re several years away from being self-sustainable in our own right but revenues are growing at quite a big rate now. We’ve made significant gains in the last couple of years.”
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