"The appetite for women's football is best I've ever known in my lifetime. It feels like a really good moment for women's football in this country."
Wednesday 29 June 2022 12:23, UK
The last time England Women hosted an international tournament on British soil, Hope Powell was in charge.
It was 2005, the game was yet to be fully professionalised, players were part-time, and its visibility was, at best, opaque. Yet when the team, boasting Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, Faye White and co arrived at the City of Manchester stadium to take on Finland in their opening group game, they were roared on by close to 30,000 people - a record-breaking attendance. It was a watershed moment.
Today, the landscape has shifted. And Powell, a driving force behind that change, believes England now have the perfect platform for sustained success.
Early pioneers of the game, including Powell herself, were cultivators. England finished bottom of their group in 2005 - where the tournament consisted of eight nations - yet its legacy was transformative. It kick-started a movement.
Since then, Powell alongside a host of other stakeholders, have laid the groundwork for a European Championship where England are among the tournament favourites. They have created an environment whereby future generations of homegrown talent can, and will, thrive.
Infrastructure has been key. Regional Talent Clubs (RTC) - England's female talent pathway - is as close to resembling its male counterpart as it ever has been, and the Women's Super League is now fully professionalised and heavily backed by investors and broadcasters alike. It also contains a collective proportion of the world's best talent.
Sarina Wiegman's 23-player squad - one of the youngest in the 16-team tournament - have a chance to make an indelible impression on the face of the game this summer. One that communities will look back on in another 17 years' time and champion as a significant turning point in the evolution of women's football.
"It's been a team effort," Powell said, humbly. "It's so accessible now, which has really helped in terms of galvanising fans. The product is better than it has ever been. The appetite for women's football is the best I've ever known it in my lifetime. It feels like a really good moment for women's football in this country."
Yet such progress did not always feel attainable. Powell remembers a time where the chance for a female to turn pro was not only impossible, it was nonsensical. As if a females only legitimate role within the game was spectator.
Fast-forward to 2022 and England are embarking on, what is billed to be, the most-watched, most-attended, most-accessible tournament in the history of women's football. A competition that England will not only host, but could feasibly win.
"You could feel the change," Powell commented, reflecting on the latter stages of her Lionesses tenure. "But what that change was, and where it would land, I could never have imagined it would be in the place it is now. It's testimony to all the hard work that's been done over the years."
Interest in the game will undoubtedly peak this summer, but the question is, can England deliver on such promise? There are, as with any tournament, extenuating factors at play but Powell believes the hosts are in pole position to beat their continental counterparts to silverware.
It will, however, be the first England selection with an average age younger than 27 since 2013 in Sweden (where they failed to make it beyond the group stage), including nine who have never featured at a major tournament before. Forty caps on average per player is also the lowest tally of any group since Powell led England to a World Cup quarter-final in 2011.
So, should England be fearful, or fearless?
"The expectation is huge," the Brighton coach continued. "Categorically, the expectation will be for England to win it.
"There has been a huge amount of investment in the game. The talent pool we have now, based historically on what has been achieved with the academy programmes - the RTC as they are called now - laid the foundation for young players coming through.
"They have the best opportunity to develop as players and we're seeing the result of that. I believe we've got some exceptional young talent."
Three consecutive major tournament semi-final appearances, but nothing further, places greater importance on this summer's challenge for European glory. The formula for success exists in theory, but can the Lionesses hold their nerve in front of expectant home crowds?
"The squad has got more depth than it's ever had - which is a real nice problem for Sarina. I guess it's if they can manage the pressures of a home tournament. If everyone remains fit and healthy, I believe they've got a real chance of winning the tournament.
"The competition for places is rife because of the ability among the group. The support the squad have now is second to none. It's very different to how it was in my day, different in a positive way. It gives them the absolute best chance of performing on a world stage.
"The experiences of some of those young players, the experiences they've already had, will hold them in good stead going into this tournament."
England certainly have the power to entertain this summer. But more than that, deliver international honours in their own backyard. The tournament will be a celebration of the barriers the game has broken down across multiple junctures, spanning many eras, but also the chance to observe its chasmic explosion in popularity - something that particularly pleases Powell.
"Who would have said this even 10 years ago?" she exclaimed, smiling. "Everybody is talking about it, it's well-documented, well-publicised. It's accessible. It'll be on terrestrial TV which is fantastic.
"It gives everyone in the country a chance to get behind the team - and other nations. I'm hoping it will be a fantastic display of the best talent in Europe."
And this year, there's a bonus prize for England too - a crescendo at Wembley Stadium in front of a sell-out crowd of 90,000. That is not guaranteed of course, but it's well within reach for Wiegman's gifted squad.
Twelve months on from the European exploits of Gareth Southgate's senior men, can the Lionesses go one step further this summer?
"I expect England to win it," former England boss Powell said. "It will not be easy. You can't exclude Germany - they are used to winning tournaments.
"Spain, everyone expects them to be there or there about. Then the French who will also have high expectations, although they seem to crumble a bit in the latter stages of tournaments. If they've ironed that out, they've got a chance.
"I also believe it's about a bit of luck. What group you're in, what's your pathway, you need a bit of luck in tournament play. But I believe England have a realistic chance. If they can take the luck and run with it, brilliant."
