Lionesses set to break own crowd record

ENGLAND Women could break their own attendance record after tickets for their friendly with the USA at Wembley sold out less than 24 hours after going on sale.

A crowd of 87,192 watched the Lionesses make history by beating Germany to lift their first major trophy on Sunday. But there could be an even larger attendance when Sarina Wiegman’s European champions welcome the World Cup winners on October 7. Tickets went on sale on Tuesday afternoon and, by 2pm on Wednesday, only hospitality options remained available. The FA website crashed several times as fans raced to secure their spot, with the governing body apologising for the issues. The game will take place subject to England securing World Cup qualification in the next international break. England’s squad also published an open letter to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to ask for their commitment, if voted as Prime Minister, to ensure girls have equal access to football in schools across the country. The letter read: ‘We want every young girl in the nation to be able to play football at school. Currently only 63 per cent of girls can play football in PE lessons. ‘They deserve to play football at lunchtime, they deserve to play football in PE lessons and they deserve to believe they can one day play for England.’