The SWPL set a new attendance record last season; over 100,000 fans turned out at women’s matches in Scotland; the new ScottishPower Women’s Premier League starts on August 13
By Alison Conroy, Digital Sports Journalist @AlisonGConroy
The Scottish Women’s Premier League has announced more than 100,000 fans attended matches last season.
It is the first time the women’s game in Scotland has reached the milestone, with a total of 106,781 supporters watching an SWPL, SWPL 2, or Sky Sports Cup game.
The domestic record attendance for a single game was also broken on three occasions last season.
Just over 8,000 watched Hibernian host Hearts in the Edinburgh derby at Easter Road last November before Celtic Park hosted 9,553 fans for Celtic vs Glasgow City in May.
Celtic broke the record again on the final day of the season, with 15,822 turning out to watch their 2-0 win over Hearts.
There were also record club attendances for Hearts and Rangers while Montrose recorded the highest SWPL 2 attendance of the season for their trophy presentation at Links Park.
A record crowd was also at the Sky Sports Cup final, with 3,727 watching Rangers vs Hibernian at Tynecastle back in December 2022.
Fiona McIntyre, SWPL managing director, said: “We are delighted to confirm a record-breaking season for spectators attending across our competitions. The idea of having over 100,000 people in one season watching the women’s game was unimaginable only a few seasons ago, so these numbers are a testament to the growth of the game and the work of our clubs.”
“These figures illustrate the increasing awareness and appetite for women’s football in Scotland and I hope we can continue to see attendances increase season after season. The women’s game is affordable, family-friendly, competitive and provides an opportunity to watch top-level, elite athletes across communities in Scotland.”
“Playing inside main club stadiums also helps, there’s no doubt about that and this is best illustrated in the matches where we saw attendance records broken last season. We hope this is something that can become more common in Scotland and as a league, we can support this where possible.”
The opening weekend games
Here’s the first round of fixtures for the 2023/24 ScottishPower Women’s Premier League season (All fixtures subject to change):
Aberdeen vs Motherwell
Dundee United vs Partick Thistle
Glasgow City vs Hibernian
Hamilton Academical vs Hearts
Montrose vs Celtic
Spartans vs Rangers
Here’s the first round of fixtures for the 2023/24 ScottishPower Women’s Premier League 2 season (All fixtures subject to change):
Boroughmuir Thistle vs Glasgow Women
Gartcairn vs Queen’s Park
Livingston vs Kilmarnock
St Johnstone vs Stirling University
Key dates for the 2023/24 SWPL season
Start date – August 13
Winter break – December 18 to January 13
First post-split fixtures – March 17, 2024
Final round of matches – May 19, 2024
Play-off finals – May 23/24, 2024
Sky Sports Cup final – March 23 or 24, 2024
Scottish Premiership and SWPL on Sky Sports
Sky Sports – Next season up to 48 cinch Premiership games will be available across Sky Sports’ flagship channels, including Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event, plus at least five SWPL matches. From 2024/25, up to 60 cinch Premiership will be live on Sky Sports, in addition to the SWPL.
Sky Sports News – Running 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Scottish football fans can enjoy Sky Sports News’ (channel 409) rolling editorial coverage of the cinch Premiership and SWPL throughout the season.
Sky Sports Digital – Follow all the latest from Scottish football across SkySports.com and app, including exclusive features and interviews, plus dedicated live blog coverage, in-game clips from matches live on Sky Sports and free highlights.
Sky Sports Social – Alongside coverage and visibility for the league across all Sky Sports’ main social media channels, the bespoke Twitter channel @ScotlandSky will continue to be the home of all Scottish football content on Sky Sports.
Highlights show – Tune in for a dedicated round-up from the cinch Premiership every week on Sky Sports Football.
To download the Sky Sports app click here, to visit Sky Sports website click here.
Sky Sports is the home of domestic football in the UK and Ireland, with more than 400 games per season across the Scottish Premiership, Scottish Women’s Premier League, Premier League, WSL, and EFL.