THERE was a joyous pre-tournament buzz around Manchester and en route to Old Trafford ahead of the opening game of the Women's Euro 2022 tournament.

A fan park in the city centre provided a place for supporters to gather. The many Austrians attending the game congregated there, singing and dancing, while England shirts could be seen across the city, and indeed the region, making their way to the hosts’ first game.

England versus Austria will be the only game played at this stadium during the tournament, but the majority of the near 75,000 capacity was needed given the interest in this opener.

The 68,871 attendance was a record crowd for a women’s European Championship match.

The pre-match entertainment was loud and lively, creating a party atmosphere in the stadium. 

The fans were drowned out somewhat by the volume of the stadium’s sound system during the build-up to the game but nevertheless, beneath that wall of sound and thanks to DJ Jaguar’s wisely chosen tunes Old Trafford was rocking in time for kick-off.

Fans maintained the noise as the game started and an excellent finish from Beth Mead, who lifted the ball over Manuela Zinsberger from Fran Kirby’s pass just over a quarter of an hour in, made sure things remained lively.

“It was incredible, unbelievable,” England coach Sarina Wiegman said of the atmosphere.

“We know where we’ve come from, then playing here at Old Trafford with 70,000 people making lots of noise, getting behind us — it was really incredible.”

The “where we’ve come from” comment was presumably a reference to the struggles, or rather obstacles, women’s football has faced throughout the history of the sport. In this context, the game, or even just the occasion and the feeling around it, felt important, almost momentous.

A celebration of how far the game has come in recent years and excitement about where it can go.

The result almost didn’t matter, but Mead’s goal gave the home fans something else to celebrate while Austria fans continued cheering their team, ramping things up as their side threatened to equalise in the second half.

England held onto the win though, giving them something to build on for the rest of the tournament as well as highlighting areas in which they can improve.

Georgia Stanway was named Player of the Match following an impressive midfield display alongside Keira Walsh and also commented on the stadium atmosphere.

When asked what the best thing about this occasion was, Stanway replied: “The noise. Though it was hard to hear information, it was hard to hear it from the sidelines, and it was hard to hard to hear Keira shouting me from behind.

“I think the noise just shows where we’re at. That's the standard fans have set and we need that at every single game.”

For anyone interested in England's tactics, the comment also shows the England midfield is more of a staggered three of Walsh, Stanway, and Kirby in attack, rather than a rigid 4-2-3-1.

Fans remained in good spirits as Old Trafford emptied and the celebrations continued as they made their way back into Manchester on the packed Metrolink or out to the surrounding area.

A small number of tickets are still available for a handful of the tournament’s other matches, but there will be full houses or at least mostly full stadiums throughout July. The final at Wembley on the 31st is sold out.

The Women’s Euros are the main football event this summer and will be in the spotlight thanks to these joyous atmospheres and blanket coverage on the BBC.

Other big football tournaments are taking place simultaneously in other parts of the world in the women’s game, including the Women's Africa Cup of Nations and the Copa America Femenina. 

If the enthusiasm and coverage for the game in these regions is anything like that for the Euros in England, then 2022 could be a massive year for women’s football and women’s sport in general.