England embraces rivalries for Women’s World Cup lift

LONDON (AP) — From her new home in Manchester, Jackie Groenen will gaze across to the nearby stands of Old Trafford visualizing the day she can play in the stadium. Groenen can dream big this year. Even before helping the Netherlands reach its first Women’s World Cup final in July, Groenen had signed up as Manchester United’s first overseas female player, ready for the team’s debut in the Women’s Super League.

United, the record 20-time English men’s champion, only launched a professional women’s side a year ago, and Groenen jumped at the chance to play for one of the most famous names in sports.

“When I’m home and I tell people I’ve been playing at FFC Frankfurt for years they kind of go, ‘Well, good for you,”’ Groenen said. “It’s a different kind of vibe and you don’t get that with teams like Man United, Man City or Liverpool. For women’s football to grow it’s important to have that name and that badge on it.”

Groenen will be pulling on the United shirt in a competitive game for the first time on Saturday when the opening weekend of the WSL season sees the first-ever Manchester derby in women’s professional soccer.

While Groenen does not know when she will get to play at Old Trafford — United’s women play in a 12,000-seat arena across town — City will be using its main stadium on Saturday for the derby. More than 20,000 tickets have already been sold for the game at Etihad Stadium, which seats 55,000 and is four times the capacity of the smaller venue that is usually home to City’s women.

“That shows the impact the World Cup,” City forward Georgia Stanway said. “There’s nothing like playing in a full stadium with the atmosphere roaring.”

Stanway was part of the England team that reached the World Cup semifinals, losing to eventual champion the United States. But she did collect medals with City last season, winning both domestic cups. Fueled by the investment by Abu Dhabi that has transformed the men’s team since 2008, City has now established itself as Manchester’s dominant force in women’s football without a local rival until now.

“Obviously we’ve got fans that have been here for years and Manchester’s only ever been blue because Manchester United haven’t existed,” Stanway said. “Now we’ve got the competition, that’s nice.”

It is the curtain-raiser to a season that the English Football Association hopes will build on a World Cup that attracted a record women’s soccer TV audience of 11.7 million for the semifinal against the Americans. Every WSL game will be broadcast worldwide either on the FA’s new free app or on channels in Central America, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Mexico, Norway and Sweden.

“It is a step that had to come if you want to make the game a bit more famous,” said Swiss midfielder Lia Walti, who won the title with Arsenal in April. “It was a bit hard to follow women’s football.”