The soaring profile of women’s football in England will be highlighted on Saturday as BBC1 provides live coverage of the FA Cup final, Arsenal v Chelsea, for the first time.
As viewers tune for the 5.30pm BST kick-off – “it’s very exciting” – said a BBC spokeswoman – Wembley stadium is expected to attract a record attendance for this season’s domestic showpiece. With well over 40,000 tickets already sold, the crowd should easily exceed the previous record 35,271 who watched Manchester City overcome Birmingham in last year’s final.
It represents quite a sea change from only five years ago when just 4,998 gathered at Doncaster’s Keepmoat Stadium to watch Arsenal beat Bristol Academy. Since then though the England side has reached the semi-finals of the 2015 World Cup in Canada and the same stage of the 2017 European Championship in the Netherlands.
Four members of that Dutch squad are expected to be involved on Saturday for Arsenal as they attempt to win the trophy for a 15th time. Although Chelsea are seeking what would be only a second FA Cup triumph, they and Manchester City, have largely eclipsed the north Londoners in recent seasons, dictating that Emma Hayes’s side start as slight favourites.
Chelsea’s highly-rated 41-year-old coach is eight months pregnant with twins and, although she will be in the technical area, her assistant, Paul Green, is leading the team out.
“Physically, it’s uncomfortable for me at the moment so it’s better that I stay in the background,” says Chelsea’s manager. “It’s better for my babies if I sit down. I don’t mind, I’m a woman, I don’t have a big ego!”
Meanwhile, her 35-year-old captain Katie Chapman is hoping to win the 10th FA Cup of a two-decade-long career in which she has also had three sons.
Arsenal’s coach, Joe Montemurro aims to fulfill a childhood fantasy nurtured by cheering on Arsenal from afar while watching two-week-old editions of Match of the Day and ITV’s The Big Match during a childhood spent in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
The 48-year-old Australian has impressed since taking charge in north London last autumn, tightening Arsenal’s defence appreciably. He describes the prospect of stepping on to the Wembley turf in his club suit as “surreal and fantastic”.
For his star England midfielder, Jordan Nobbs, pride is at stake. “We’d like to show everyone that it’s not all about Chelsea and Manchester City,” she says. “We want to show that Arsenal are back.”
- Join Scott Murray for live minute-by-minute coverage of the final here from 4.30pm BST
