Wolves Women set for record-breaking attendance in historic FA Cup clash

Dan McNamara's side take on the current trophy holders on February 8 at Telford's SEAH Stadium in their fifth round clash, in the hope of causing a major upset and booking their place in the quarter-finals.

For what is undoubtedly one of the club's biggest games in their history, third tier Wolves will take on Super League opposition United in what is expected to be a record-breaking attendance for a Wolves Women game.

The previous record at Telford was broken in February 2024 when 1,812 fans watched Wolves take on top flight Brighton in the FA Cup, while the record attendance for a women's game at Molineux stands at 3,834 when Wolves beat Huddersfield in April 2023.

The upcoming game at United is now set to smash both of those records and is likely to break the 4,000 mark.

Wolves sold more than 1,000 tickets in the first hour they went on sale and then sold out the main stand of 1,800 plus 400 behind each goal in just the first day of sales.

Around 800 tickets have currently been sold to away fans and that is expected to reach 1,000 by the time the two teams face off.

As a result, the United clash is expected to break the attendance for a Wolves Women game, and limited tickets are still available.

On top of that, Wolves are working with AFC Telford United and the authorities to open up further tickets, and updates will be given to fans in due course.

Tickets can be bought here.

Talks did take place to play the game at Molineux, but the coaching staff and players preferred Telford to give them the best possible chance of causing an upset.

“My big message to the fans, to the players and to everyone involved in the game is that this is a game of football in which we want to be competitive," head coach McNamara said.

"We want the girls to feel comfortable in where they are, and we also play well at Telford – that's where we get results – because this is not a game we're taking lightly.

“We’re not just inviting Man United to the SEAH Stadium and giving them a free pass to the next round, we want to perform to our best and give the competition our all, but we also want to use everything in our power to try and make sure the game is really competitive.”

There were also concerns over the game clashing with the men's first team playing at Blackburn in the FA Cup, which is taking place on Sunday February 9, and keeping the game at Telford meant it could be selected for broadcast on YouTube and be played on the Saturday instead.

“Everybody knows that it’s a huge uphill task,” McNamara added. 

“We're talking about senior England internationals that are going to be gracing the turf at Telford, but it's the small one per cents which can make a difference.

“We've seen how we performed against West Ham there two years ago, we've seen how we performed against Brighton last year, and we want to do it again.

“It's what the players wanted and it's what the staff wanted, because we want to be as well prepared as you can be when you've got Man United coming to town. We've got a couple of games at Telford before we play Man United and it's our dressing room, it's our stadium.

“If you have three to four thousand people at Telford, it will be a right, lively little ground. You saw it at Tamworth in the men’s FA Cup with Tottenham Hotspur, and it can be quite daunting for the opposition. Whereas if we played the game at Molineux, we’re not expecting to sell anywhere near the 30,000, so you're going to end up with empty stands.

“I understand the draw to play it there, and Molineux certainly feels like home when we do play there for our showpiece games like West Brom in March, but the girls are so used to the pitch at Telford and they know the dressing rooms so well.

“Although it’s a huge game against prestigious opposition, if we can keep as close to our usual routines as possible, hopefully the better they'll perform and we will go out there and give a good account of ourselves.”