Sheffield’s hosting of UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 gave the city’s economy an £8.3m boost, new research reveals.

A study commissioned by The FA, UEFA and UK Sport to measure the impact of UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 found that the tournament generated £81m across cities nationally.

Sheffield hosted three group C fixtures, between Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden plus the semi-final between England and Sweden.

The tournament brought in thousands of fans from across Europe, an influx that injected £8.3m into the local economy.

Cllr Martin Smith, chair of the Economic Development and Skills committee at Sheffield City Council, said: ‘When we bid for events like UEFA Women’s EURO, we’re making a huge commitment on behalf of the city and some people wonder why we do it. Well, here’s eight million reasons, and that’s on top of the many other benefits we’ve all seen first-hand over the summer.

‘Exciting and inspiring world class sport live in our local stadium, three new attendance records set by Sheffield, thousands of visiting fans enjoying the city, Sheffield shown on TV screens across the world’s media, people coming together to celebrate the list goes on.

‘More importantly though is the many women and girls who’ve now been inspired to get in to football either playing, coaching, refereeing or just watching for the fun of it. We couldn’t be happier or prouder to have been a part of this and achieving such a significant boost to our local economy, more than double what we had hoped for, makes it even sweeter.

‘With the cost-of-living crisis and over-stretched budgets we’re often asked about the future of events in the city. But we’re ambitious for Sheffield and we understand how culture, sport and leisure go hand in hand to strengthen our economy and improve the health and wellbeing of our population. Being able to back that up with the findings of this study supports our approach and inspires us to keep striving to attract the highest calibre of events to Sheffield.’