England hoping fans will stay tuned in for glory bid

The European champions kick off their Colombia quarter-final at 11:30am UK time tomorrow, one hour before Arsenal and Nottingham Forest begin their new campaigns at the Emirates.

The Lionesses’ last-16 clash against Nigeria was watched by over five million people on BBC TV, while tournament organisers have said they are on track to reach an audience of two billion viewers worldwide.

Forward England said: “I think hopefully we can still engage the fans enough to want to watch us and I know there’s a lot of people that have turned to women’s football because they’ve enjoyed watching us. It’s not just because the men aren’t playing.

“So hopefully we can continue that because we want to make sure that those viewing numbers are as high as possible, whether they choose to watch the men’s game or not.

“We can’t affect that. I think ultimately we’re going to go and try and put out our best performance and give the fans something to watch, and that they will want to keep coming back and watching us.”

England was part of Sarina Wiegman’s squad who lifted the Euro 2022 trophy last summer, a result that captivated the country and launched an unprecedented, record-breaking season of attendance and viewing figures for the Women’s Super League (WSL) and sold-out international contests at Wembley.

Meanwhile, forward Lauren James is still hoping she will get the chane to play again in the tournament.

James is unavailable for tomorrow’s clash after she was sent off for stamping on the back of Michelle Alozie in the last 16-tie with Nigeria.

And she will also be sidelined for the semi-final should England progress. The dismissal came with an automatic one-game ban which Fifa has now increased to two.

James is England’s top scorer in the tournament, with three goals.