Fans visiting the iconic London location can see the mural on 235 Portobello Road for one week from Tuesday 30 May.

The 13ft high artwork depicts one of Chelsea’s standout players of the season, a triumphant Guro Reiten. The Norwegian played an instrumental part in Chelsea’s title-winning campaign and recorded the most assists in the league.

Her image appears alongside the Barclays WSL trophy and a line which reads: “The champions of a record-breaking season.”

The 2022/23 Barclays WSL season will long be remembered, with attendances up by 170% and record viewing figures, all reflective of a historic period of growth across the women’s game.

Guro Reiten, said: “The mural is so cool, what an honour! It’s been a good year for me and I’m so proud to be a part of this club. I owe a lot to my teammates, everyone is willing to give everything for us to succeed and to end the year with another league title is just amazing. Moments like that make all the sacrifices and hard work worth it!”

Kelly Simmons, The FA’s Director of the Women’s Professional Game said: “The 2022/23 season will live long in the memory, with some sensational football being played out in front of record-breaking crowds and TV audiences.

“Our congratulations go to Chelsea and Emma Hayes, they are worthy champions and can be very proud of what they have accomplished. We’re pleased to be able to shine a light on their achievements and hope that this artwork will bring a smile to the face of the fans.”

The Barclays WSL returns for the 2023/24 season on the weekend of 29/30 September, with another big summer ahead for the women’s game.

With thanks to the FA via MatchFit

The Final, which will be contested by holders Chelsea and Manchester United on Sunday 14 May, is set to pass the record set last season of 49,094, where Chelsea defeated Manchester City 3-2 in a closely contested encounter.

The women’s professional game in England has seen a significant uplift following the Lionesses’ memorable UEFA Women’s EURO victory, with numerous attendance records broken over the season in the Barclays Women’s Super League and Barclays Women’s Championship. Fans now have the opportunity to help create another memorable moment for the season by helping to break another record.

Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s Director of Women’s Football, said: “We had a strategic ambition to sell out the Vitality Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium by 2024, so to have done that a year early is a fantastic achievement.

“Those fans lucky enough to have a ticket, should be treated to a brilliant spectacle as well as having the opportunity to be part of Women’s FA Cup Final history. It’s always one of my favourite days of the season and a showcase of the best women’s football. I can’t wait to see a packed stadium and hear the atmosphere the fans generate with the world watching on.”

The Final will kick-off at 2.30pm and will be live on BBC One.

BT Sport’s coverage from 7.15pm (8pm KO) will be available to watch via the award-winning BT Sport App and btsport.com, plus, the BT Sport YouTube channel (youtube.com/btsport). Subscribers will also continue to enjoy access as normal on BT Sport 2 via BT TV, the Sky Satellite platform, Virgin Media, and a range of connected devices.

Emma Hayes’ Chelsea will face Barcelona in a match-up where neither team has previously lifted the trophy. Chelsea, the first English women’s football club to reach the final since Arsenal in 2006-07, are on track for a domestic league and European cup double, following on from their domestic league success last season.

Simon Green, head of BT Sport, said: “Showing the highly anticipated UEFA Women’s Champions League Final advances our commitment to women’s sport, alongside BT’s partnerships with each of the four UK “Home Nations” Football Associations to inspire girls and women to participate in football. We hope making the game accessible to all without a subscription will encourage new fans to watch and engage with women’s football during this exciting period for the game.”

Courtesy of BT Sport via Pitch

Beth England, Chelsea striker, is awarded the Barclays Player of the Season, while Chelsea manager Emma Hayes lifts the prestigious Barclays Manager of the Season, having already led Chelsea to become winners of the season overall.

Beth England, Chelsea’s No.9, scored a wonder goal in the Blues’ 2019/20 opening game of the Barclays FA WSL season from 30-yards out in front of a huge crowd at Stamford Bridge against Tottenham Hotspur, resulting in a 1-0 victory. She went on to score a total of 14 goals in 15 appearances, top scoring for Chelsea for the second successive season.

Her manager, Emma Hayes, took the team through an undefeated season, with twelve wins and three draws with the team playing an attacking brand of football scoring 47 times, or more than three goals a game, conceding only 11 times. This ultimately led to Chelsea being awarded the title ahead of Manchester City based on a higher points per game average.

But it’s not all Chelsea glory as Arsenal’s Vivianne Miedema wins Barclays Golden Boot, having scored 16 goals for Arsenal during the league campaign, more goals than anyone else throughout the series, while Manchester City’s Ellie Roebuck takes the Barclays Golden Glove, having taken over from England’s Karen Bardsley to keep ten clean sheets and win the award.

The winners were announced in a virtual award show presented by Barclays Football Ambassadors and England/Arsenal legends Ian Wright and Kelly Smith.

Eriksson, alongside Senior Chelsea Foundation coach Andrew Ottley, shares her tips on how young footballers can boost their confidence whilst practicing their moves and fakes and shows a few moves of her own, including the dropping a shoulder, step over and double step over.

Kids at home are encouraged to film themselves whilst replicating the drills demonstrated in the video and share their attempts on social media using #HyundaiFC.

Magdalena Eriksson (Photo by Harriet Lander – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

On the importance of practicing moves and fakes, Chelsea FC Women captain Magdalena Eriksson said: “Learning new moves and fakes is really important and practicing as a young player is all you can do really. As long as you have a little bit of space, there’s always the possibility to train. It’s also about finding the confidence and being brave enough to use your moves and fakes that you’ve learnt. Hopefully, practicing outside will give you the confidence you need to be able to do your moves and fakes in a game and maybe help your team score a goal.”

The Home Advantage series is part of the Hyundai FC grassroots programme, which has been able to impact over 200 grassroots players throughout the UK this season. However, with the programme now on hold, as the nation follows government guidelines to stay at home, Hyundai and Chelsea are bringing Hyundai FC to homes across the nation, with Chelsea FC lending the expertise of their Chelsea Foundation coaches and first team players in a one stop skills shop aimed at improving the game of the young fans at home. All episodes can be found on the Hyundai Football Blog and Chelsea YouTube page.

Courtesy of Chelsea Foundation via Pitch

Details of the Final are as follows:

Arsenal v Chelsea Ladies [17.30 K/O]
Wembley Stadium
Broadcast live on BBC One [coverage begins at 17.10] and BBC Radio 5 Live

Arsenal will occupy the East changing room and Chelsea Ladies will occupy the West changing room.

The match day officials have been confirmed as:
· Lindsey Robinson [Referee, Durham FA]
· Kirsty Dowle [Kent FA, Assistant Referee]
· Stacey Pearson [Somerset FA, Assistant Referee]
· Helen Byrne [Liverpool FA, Fourth Official]

Last year’s Final saw a record attendance of 35,271 and this year’s show piece event looks set to break the record once again with over 40,000 snapping up the chance to see two of the best teams in the country battle it out at the national stadium. Tickets are priced at £15 for adults and kids go free, they remain available at www.theFA.com/tickets and will be on sale on the day.

For the first time ever The SSE Women’s FA Cup Final will play host to a dedicated Fanzone in Arena Square that opens at 13.00. World Champion freestyler Liv Cooke will be entertaining the crowds and Lionesses Fara Williams and Mary Earps will deliver pre-match analysis. As well as live music and football challenges, those visiting the Fanzone can show their support for either Arsenal or Chelsea Ladies by creating a personalised banner. Inside the stadium, DJ Teisha Matthews will entertain the crowd before kick-off.

Fans are encouraged to share their images throughout the day on social media using #CupSelfie for a chance to have those images displayed on the stadium’s big screens.

After the final whistle the trophy will be presented to the winning captain by Tina Hamilton, a SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football Centre coach and volunteer. Tina was rewarded with the accolade by sponsor SSE, having been nominated for her commitment to girls’ football as the driving force behind the creation and continued development of Formby Junior Sports Club.

Entrants to this year’s Make Dreams Goals campaign will also be attending the Final. The SSE Women’s FA Cup campaign which encourages 7-15 year olds to share their dreams has made a number of young football fans dreams come true this season.

Courtesy of the FA

The day for us started well with a chance meeting on the train with a young Charlton Athletic goalkeeper, Megen Lynch, who was with her mother on the way to Wembley having won their tickets the previous evening.

There weren’t many fans on the train so it was quite a surprise when exiting at Wembley Park to see that glorious walkway absolutely packed with fans making their way to the stadium.  A sign that women’s football has finally made it – several ticket touts trying to sell tickets! And the crowd was a record breaking 32,912!

We were lucky enough to have been invited by SSE as guests so made our way through the guest entrance into a section of Wembley not previously seen and the hospitality was terrific.  We eventually made our way to our seats and as always when visiting Wembley, for me it’s a heady mix of excitement and emotion despite being neutrals on the day.

When the teams were announced I was thrilled to see Kelly Smith on the team sheet for Arsenal and Fran Kirby for Chelsea.

From kick off Arsenal showed their intent putting Chelsea on the back foot and not allowing them to settle.  Driven forward by veterans Smith and Casey Stoney it seemed only a matter of time before Arsenal would score.  [Before the match Stoney has announced that a different team would be on show from the one beaten 2-0 by Chelsea just a few weeks ago and so it proved.]

On 18 minutes Danielle Carter collected a beautiful pass from Casey Stoney, drifted in from the left wing and scored an absolutely beautiful goal, from the angle it looked as if the ball would go wide but it curled into the top corner, giving keeper Hedvig Lindahl no chance and it was no more than Arsenal deserved.

Chelsea responded with lots of endeavour but despite the work rate, as always, from Fran Kirby who had one shot saved by the foot of Sari Van Veenendaal  the end product wasn’t there.  Arsenal nullified Ji So-Yun, and when Chelsea did have opportunities they were squandered.

The best chances all fell to Arsenal and if Asisat Oshoala had shown a little more composure in front of goal she could have scored 2 or 3, several times she did all the hard work on the wing and then the finish just wasn’t there, while Kelly Smith had a thunderbolt shot that hit the crossbar, all in all could have been an easier win than 1-0 for the ladies in red.

It was a massive team effort from Arsenal their 14^th win of the FA Cup which was very well deserved.

Manager Pedro Martinez Losa who prowled the touch-line for most of the game should be justly proud of his team’s work rate and effort.

For Chelsea, well maybe they thought this match would be a little bit easier than it was, but they didn’t seem as cohesive as Arsenal – lots to work on for the Champions.

Many thanks to Gino D’Andrea for the beautiful photo.

Kelly Smith (Photo: SSE)

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of SSE children attend for free while adult tickets are just £15 – a fantastic opportunity to watch two great teams battle it out for the FA Cup.

We are at Wembley last year for the first Women’s FA Cup Final at Wembley and the atmosphere was brilliant.  This year the crowd is set to be even bigger, the public are warming to women’s football and its great to see.

Fran Kirby (Photo: SSE)

Arsenal Ladies team have won the FA Cup more than any other team with an incredible 13 wins under their belt, whilst Chelsea Ladies will be looking to win successive titles.

Both teams are stacked with talent but Arsenal must have the edge on experience with players like Kelly Smith, Rachel Yankey, Fara Williams and Casey Stoney in the dressing room plus they will be looking to avenge the league defeat Chelsea inflicted just last month.

On the other hand Chelsea are flying in the league and they have the twinkling feet of Fran Kirby, the craft of Ji So-Yun and the grit of Katie Chapman and Claire Rafferty to name but a few.

All in all a mouth watering prospect in store and I for one can’t wait.

More than 30,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday’s showpiece, which will be contested by London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea (2pm KO).

Last year’s final, the first to be staged at Wembley, was played in front of a record 30,710 supporters – and came off the back of England’s historic third-place finish at the World Cup in Canada.

This year, thanks to The FA’s partnership with SSE, all children can attend the final for free.

Adult tickets are priced £15 and tickets are still available here or by calling 0844 826 2010.

FA head of football participation and development Kelly Simmons said: “Ahead of Saturday’s final, it’s excellent news that we’re looking set to match and even surpass last year’s ticket sales.

“This success is down to the hard work that the clubs, our staff and our Cup sponsor SSE have put into this year’s final, and shows the level of support there is for our clubs and the wider women’s game.

“Last year’s final was a fantastic occasion and another landmark for women’s football, and we’re delighted that this year’s looks set to be another fitting showcase for the game.

“We wish our two finalists, Arsenal and Chelsea, the very best of luck for Saturday.”

The match will be shown live on BBC One.

Report courtesy of The FA

The England striker gave the Blues an early lead after an Kirby after an energetic start by the Blues, but Pedro Martinez Losa’s side had chances of their own, with Danielle van de Donk and Marta Corredera both going close in the first half.

Chelsea came out firing again after the interval, but it was Arsenal who had the more clear-cut chances. Jordan Nobbs found the back of the net with a long-range strike but the referee had already blown the whistle for an Arsenal free-kick.

The Gunners’ momentum was cruelly halted with 10 minutes to go, though, when Kirby hammered home from close range to double her side’s lead.

Arsenal fought well but could not find the clinical touch against their London rivals, and will certainly be looking for revenge when the two sides meet in the FA Women’s Cup final at Wembley on May 14.

The table:

Match summary above courtesy of Arsenal Ladies FC