Saturday, May 20 marks the first-ever Premier League and WSL double header. It will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – with the men’s team playing Brentford first, followed by the women playing Reading.
Tottenham will make history with this double header; however they are not the first to have their men’s and women’s teams play at the same stadium on the same day – Arsenal did so in 2019.
That particular double header came off the back of the success of the Women’s World Cup, in which England reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners USA.
These games, however, were not fully competitive due to both teams taking part in their own respective editions of the Emirates Cup. The women took on German side Bayern Munich and fell to a 1-0 loss due to a Melanie Leupolz-headed goal. The men also fell to a 2-1 defeat to French side Lyon.
This means Saturday (May 20) will be the first competitive time WSL and Premier League teams have faced off on the same day in the same place.
The announcement was met with excitement, with fans praising the idea: “This is definitely the way forward. Well done Spurs,” @Robski said on Twitter, while @Dan__OTG (Twitter) said: “This is actually pretty cool, great idea.”
This Saturday, our first-ever double-header comes to @SpursStadium 🤝
Spurs 🆚 Brentford
⏰ 12.30pm BST
🏆 @premierleague@SpursWomen 🆚 Reading
⏰ 4.15pm BST
🏆 @BarclaysWSL— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 15, 2023
We can’t wait to see you all at @SpursStadium next week! 🏟️
Get your tickets for the WSL clash here ⤵️
— Tottenham Hotspur Women (@SpursWomen) May 14, 2023
The day of drama is highly anticipated by many – including the players themselves. But one question that some fans have is how ticketing will work, especially for those who are only attending the women’s game.
For the men’s game at 12.30pm, all Premier League tickets (for the home fans) will include the WSL fixture.
But only Saturday will tell if this header will be a success and drive forward more teams to host their own.
