Bristol City Women can fill Ashton Gate in the WSL, says chairman

A club-record crowd of more than 7,000 at Ashton Gate watched Bristol City Women win promotion back to the WSL

It will not be long until Bristol City Women sell out Ashton Gate, says chairman Gavin Marshall.

The Robins will play all their home games at the stadium next season after winning promotion back to the Women's Super League after a two-year absence.

A club-record of 7,045 watched them beat Charlton Athletic on Sunday to seal their return to the top flight.

With a capacity of 27,000 Ashton Gate will become the second biggest ground in the WSL.

"It's a great venue, it's a great place to play football, and it's an accessible venue, and that's the way we're going to grow our audience," Marshall told BBC Points West.

"Who'd have thought a couple of years ago we'd get over 7,000 for a game here in the Championship.

"The crowds for women's sport and women's football is growing massively year on year and it won't be too long before we fill it here at Ashton Gate."

Only Leicester City's King Power Stadium has a larger capacity than Bristol City's new home at over 32,000. The WSL's record attendance is 47,367, set when Arsenal played Tottenham at the Emirates Stadium last September, however that is not Arsenal's regular ground.

Bristol City Women secured a return to the WSL after two seasons in the Championship

Despite playing a few games previously at Ashton Gate, Bristol City Women have played the vast majority of their home games at the club's High Performance Centre for the past two seasons, which is also the men's and women's squads training base and home of the men's academy team.

They will share their new home with the men's Championship club as well as the Bristol Bears men's English Premiership rugby team.

"The crowds are growing every season and we anticipate growing, especially now we're in the WSL and we'll be playing Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, we're expecting good crowds next year," Marshall added.

'A young, exciting, local team'

The Robins spent five seasons in the WSL from 2011 to 2015 and four seasons from 2017 to 2021.

Their highest finish was second in 2013 when they were known as Bristol Academy.

"We need to strengthen, we'll look to strengthen, but we won't move away from what got us here," Marshall said.

"It's a really young squad and our players are really improving. Over half of our players have come through our academy, we've got an average age of 22 in our team. We've got a really young, exciting, local team, which is what we're about."

They were heavily beaten by Manchester City twice this season, losing 6-0 in the Continental Cup and 8-1 in the FA Cup.

"That's really brought it home to us how tough the WSL is," Marshall added.

"It was quite chastening playing them and it was a good reminder of what we're up against next season, but we're confident that we can compete next season."