Manchester United and Chelsea make history as Women's…

Manchester United and Chelsea make history as Women's FA Cup final at Wembley sold out

Manchester United made history last month when they beat Brighton to reach their first-ever Women's FA Cup final, and the final is now set to become a record-breaking occasion at Wembley as it's sold out for the first time in the competition's history.

It was confirmed on Wednesday that tickets for the showpiece event on May 14 were sold out. With a capacity of 90,000, this year's final is set to smash the record set last year when Chelsea played Manchester City in front of 49,094 supporters.

Since the final moved to Wembley in 2015, there's been a steady increase in attendance figures - excluding the 2020 final, which took place behind closed doors. The latest sell-out represents another huge step in the growth of the women's game.

In order to reach the final, United overcame Sunderland, Durham and Lewes before a late goal from Rachel Williams clinched a last-minute victory over WSL opposition Brighton in the semi-finals. Chelsea, on the other hand, faced a challenging route against Liverpool, Arsenal, Reading and Aston Villa.

Last month, United boss Marc Skinner criticised the 7,500 ticket allocation for both clubs. He said: "I don't know how many it is in the men's game, but to give clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United 8,000 tickets to sell, it's just crazy, in my opinion. I don't know how it works, in all honesty, I haven't really looked into it but to give two massive clubs 8,000 tickets is, as I say, crazy - that is as simple as I can put it."

At the time of his comments, over 60,000 tickets had already been sold for the final and the FA responded to the comments, saying: "Chelsea and Manchester United have each been issued with an additional 7,500 tickets for their fans. This is to help meet the likely demand for each club and is almost double the amount of tickets that the finalists received last year."

Chelsea are the current holders of the competition having won last year's final against City and the 2021 final against Arsenal. Emma Hayes' side will hope to make it three wins on the bounce when they take on Skinner's side in a few weeks' time.

For United, it will be their first time at Wembley contesting the final but they'll hope to continue their history-filled campaign as they also find themselves in the midst of a title race.

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