Barclays WSL & Championship Take Over British Landmarks

Women’s Football Weekend returns once again to celebrate the elite level of the sport in England. 

Hosted across the weekend of Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March, the top two tiers of the women’s professional game will take centre stage, with several high-profile fixtures featuring as the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship seasons heat up.

With plans to go the extra mile across the two leagues, the campaign for this year’s event includes imagery of famous British landmarks, drawing on the local derby matches that will take place over the weekend.

Through immersive augmented reality CGI, the league has produced scroll-stopping visuals to spotlight the four derbies of this gameweek’s fixtures:

Manchester City v Manchester Derby (Saturday 23 March, 12:30pm KO at the Etihad Stadium)

Everton v Liverpool (Sunday 24 March, 1pm KO at Goodison Park)

West Ham United v Chelsea (Sunday 24 March, 4:30pm KO at the Chigwell Construction Stadium)

Sunderland v Durham (Sunday 24 March, 2pm KO at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground)

To build the hype around these matches, the goal is to evoke football culture and rivalries through a series of VFX stunts. 

The content will display half-and-half scarves and banners as well as team flags and lockers in prime locations of Regent Street, Radio City Tower, Deansgate Square and Roker Pier Lighthouse.

Speaking ahead of the gameweek itself, Nikki Doucet – CEO of the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship, said: “Women’s Football Weekend is one of the biggest weekends of the year for our sport and is a great opportunity to showcase the talented teams and players we have in our leagues. 

“The weekend is a window into the elite level of women’s football, and we hope it draws more people in to engage with the sport going forward.”

Since its introduction in the 2019/20 season, this key moment in the calendar has seen record attendances across the women’s game and has continued to connect fans with the love of football.

On the same weekend last year, Everton achieved their highest-ever home crowd as 22,161 fans gathered at Goodison Park to watch the Merseyside Derby, illustrating the benefits of having a weekend devoted to putting women’s football in the limelight.

With most matches across both leagues also taking place in the clubs’ main stadia, the weekend kicks off at the Etihad Stadium for the Manchester Derby and concludes with Aston Villa against Arsenal at Villa Park.

All Barclays WSL games will also be available across Sky Sports, BBC One or the FA Player, with the Barclays Women’s Championship’s River Wear derby to be shown on the latter.

Image: The FA