Calls for England’s victorious Lionesses to be honoured by the Queen were growing on Monday as the nation continued to celebrate their historic Euro 2022 win.
As many as 17.4 million people tuned in watch Sunday night’s 2-1 final win over Germany, making it easily the most watched TV event of the year.
It also smashed the previous record for a women’s football audience which stood at 11.7 million for the 2019 World Cup semi-final between England and US.
The Lionesses’ victory, in front of 87,000 supporters at Wembley Stadium and sealed by London-born Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal, prompted an outpouring of tributes to the team from across the nation.
Captain Leah Williamson revealed that Prince William, who greeted the players as they collected the trophy, insisted on giving her a celebratory hug. She said: “I went to shake his hand and he said, ‘Leah, bring it in’.”
Prince Charles earlier sent his congratulations to the team.
He said: “Your teamwork, determination and sportsmanship will inspire a generation. You have made us all proud.”
The Queen told the team their “success goes far beyond the trophy”. She added: “You have all set an example that will be an inspiration for girls and women, and for future generations.”
There were growing calls on Monday for the Lionesses and their coach Sarina Wiegman to be honoured.
Lib-Dem leader Ed Davey today : “It is absolutely right that our incredible Lionesses receive honours for bringing football home. They have united the country and inspired a new generation of girls to take up sport.”
Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell said: “I’m sure we would support seeing them receiving honours. We all felt huge pride and happiness in seeing them win. It was just an unbelievable and amazing moment.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan said he backed calls for the team “to have their achievements recognised”. Former sports minister Tracey Crouch said she hoped some of the pioneers “who have day in, day out fought to make sure that women’s football is relevant” would also be recognised.
It came as thousands of fans joined in the celebrations in London with the team set to parade the trophy in Trafalgar Square.
The Government is also looking at naming pitches after each member of the squad in their home towns or where their football careers took off.
There is likely to be an honorary award for Wiegman who as a Dutch citizen is not eligible for British honours.
Footage of the team’s celebrations showed them gatecrashing Wiegman’s post-match press conference with a chorus of Three Lions while goalkeeper Mary Earps and defender Lucy Bronze danced on the desk in front of their boss.
The celebrations continued into the night with the team pictured partying outside their Teddington hotel in the early hours with striker Ellen White brandishing the trophy.
Goalscorers Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly showed off their medals on social media with Toone posing with the trophy saying she was “on top of the world” while Kelly, who grew up in Ealing just a few miles from Wembley, said it was “what dreams are made of”.
She said: “We did it, we brought it home for you.”
Williamson said she spent the last minutes of the game too “emotional” to play as her teammates fought to keep the ball by the corner flag as the clock ticked down.
She said: “I was just emotional. I just thought keep the ball away from me. You’re all doing great.”
The players will all get a £55,000 bonus from the FA for winning the tournament but stand out stars like Toone and Kelly — as well as Williamson, Alessia Russo and Golden Boot-winner Beth Mead — are expected to benefit from commercial deals powered by the new-found popularity of the women’s game.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool, and author of The Price of Football, said winning goalscorer Kelly could expect “additional attention” from sponsors and advertisers.
He said: “There is the opportunity for her in the same way there was for Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton.”
He added that Williamson, who has been an articulate spokeswoman for the team and the wider sport, would also be in demand. He said: “She is a brilliant sportswoman but also incredibly eloquent ... so we’ll see her likely to be on programmes like Question of Sport and A League of Their Own, but also blue chip firms will lap all that up in terms of presentations and talks.”
