Kingsmeadow farewell: Chelsea's Stamford Bridge push and the WSL's great stadium dilemma
The future of women's football stadiums is being reshaped season on season, and nowhere is the debate more alive than in the Women's Super League. From Chelsea's ambitious push towards Stamford Bridge and Arsenal's record-breaking residency at the Emirates to a growing wave of clubs planting their flag at their men's team's main ground, the WSL's stadium model is in constant flux.
Where WSL teams play their football continues to be a hot topic, and every club approaches things differently. This usually includes a groundsharing element — either with their men's team, with an EFL club or another sport entirely. For many, this includes both. But each season, there are incremental shifts in where women's teams play.
One club, many homes
The WSL's stadium map is a patchwork. Manchester United and Liverpool groundshare with rugby teams, while Tottenham, West Ham, Brighton and London City Lionesses all play at lower-league club grounds. Everton and Manchester City have their own designated stadiums that they do not share with another senior team. Most of these sides also play a handful of marquee matches at the club's main ground — usually against top-four sides or local rivals, with more space for both serious and casual supporters to attend.
Liverpool often play the Merseyside derby at Anfield and attract a big crowd, while Manchester City and Chelsea hosted each other at the Etihad and Stamford Bridge respectively last season.
Chelsea's Stamford Bridge statement
Few moves have signalled the direction of travel more clearly than Chelsea's. The Blues will now play their Champions League league-phase and home domestic cup games from this season at Plough Lane, the home of League One AFC Wimbledon — with Kingsmeadow, which had been exclusively used for the women's team, used in other capacities. The ground in Kingston, south-west London, was the first stadium owned solely by a women's club, and Chelsea had played there for almost a decade.
The move towards Stamford Bridge is a bold statement of intent, and Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor is under no illusions about what it means.
"The women's game is growing and we need to make sure we follow and we also initiate that group. We want to be really ambitious, really top in terms of what we do off and on the pitch. That's the right time for us to do that. Even if we already as a club achieve a lot, we still have room for improvement and being able to offer the best experience for the fans, but also for the players. They want to play in the biggest stadiums. The Bridge is a really historic stadium where we created already a lot of memories."
There are certainly parallels with Arsenal, as the Blues look to cultivate the same atmosphere their rivals have built across north London. Chelsea's recent record at the Bridge is formidable — 15 WSL games there have brought 13 wins, one draw and one defeat, an 86.7 per cent win rate, while a decade at Kingsmeadow produced an 86.3 per cent win percentage from 80 games.
Arsenal's Emirates blueprint
Arsenal remain the league's gold standard for the big-ground model, playing all of their WSL games at the Emirates Stadium along with Champions League knockout fixtures, while still using Meadow Park for domestic cup games and Champions League league-phase matches.
The Gunners have honed in on their unique fan culture, setting up the 'Block by Block' initiative, consulting supporters on how the Emirates can look and feel like home for the women's team. Different fans have been invited to attend sessions, contributing to murals, flags and music — with players involved too. By far and away, they have the highest attendance in the WSL, with an average of over 33,000.
But playing at the Emirates comes with logistical challenges, especially when the men's team also go deep in competitions — both sides reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season. From the football calendar to staffing to grounds work, having the women's team play full-time at the Emirates would be a precarious balancing act, and is likely a key factor behind the continued use of Borehamwood.
The case for smaller grounds
While big stadiums offer glamour, there is a compelling counter-argument: making smaller grounds sell-outs and generating noisy home support. That is something West Ham have tapped into, enjoying a record-breaking season at the Chigwell Construction Stadium in recent history — adding to the notion that smaller grounds, played at consistently, can be vital.
The Hammers have not played a game at the London Stadium since 2019, a contentious point among some players in recent years. But they face a unique challenge: the club do not own the stadium, and the current concession agreement only covers men's matches, friendlies and some youth games. Should the women's team play there, there would need to be a large hosting charge — significantly higher than for men's matches — which the women's budget could not accommodate.
Groundsharing can also be fraught. London City Lionesses, who have no men's club ground to fall back on, were forced to move their home WSL fixture against Chelsea to The Den in March after fixture changes made the Copperjax Community Stadium unavailable. The switch was not well received by some Millwall Lionesses fans — the club's women's team — due to history between the two, with accusations that London City were "stealing" Millwall's position in the women's game. The EFL club apologised, added they had no further plans to host London City beyond the Chelsea fixture, and said any revenue would be reinvested into Millwall Lionesses.
Full-time residents
Still, three WSL teams are already full-time residents at their club's main ground: newly promoted Charlton at The Valley and Birmingham at St Andrew's, while Aston Villa play all of their games at Villa Park. Sharing the same ground can present a 'one club' mentality, integrating the women's team into the fabric of the club and signalling its importance to the future.
Aston Villa head coach Natalia Arroyo told Sky Sports:
"It's a privilege and it's still special, even if it's our every day when we play home. We need to do our best to excite the fans to come to us. Today it was 3,000, let's see if tomorrow it can be 3,001 and tomorrow 4,000 so that we can really create this atmosphere at Villa Park. If we are winning, scoring goals and playing exciting football, people will come. I know the club is investing in having different things to do around the game to bring people back, so what we feel we can do, we are trying to do."
Interestingly, over 50 per cent of WSL2 teams also play at their club's main stadium. Some might suggest that having a permanent home at the club's main ground is the ultimate goal — it offers space for far more fans than smaller grounds and, with the right marketing and matches, can attract impressive crowds on a regular basis, as Arsenal have proven.
What comes next?
With new WSL Football guidelines set to be implemented, fans outspending Premier League supporters at matches, and an alcohol trial under way, the commercial and experiential side of the women's game is evolving as fast as its venues. Whether the future lies in purpose-built stadiums — with KC Current in the US serving as a case study — or in a continued hybrid model of marquee big-ground fixtures and consistent smaller homes, the one certainty is that the conversation is only just beginning.