Premier League achieves record TV numbers

Liam Watson
In just the second game back following the Premier League restart, Sky Sports has achieved record TV numbers as fans watch from the comfort of their homes.

Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Arsenal was the most watched game in the English top flight in three and a half years and showed exactly how fans missed league action – it had been 100 days they’ve had to wait due to the enforced break caused by coronavirus.
Sky Sports in the United Kingdom had a massive ratings success, as City vs Arsenal drew a peak audience of 3.4 million on Sky Sports’ Main Event and Premier League channels, maintaining an average of 3.1 million during the match. This audience figure saw a staggering 94% jump on the 2019/20 average for games televised live on Sky Sports.
Similar article:

The opening Premier League restart game between Aston Villa and Sheffield United, a 0-0 goalless draw, had a peak audience of 2.7 million and an average of 2.3 million people watching on both Sky Sports channels.

Artificial crowd noise, delivered in both Bundesliga and La Liga broadcasts, has also made its way to the Premier League. For the City vs Arsenal game, 75% of viewers chose to listen to these sounds via Sky Sports Main Event – proving that fans like to have a little bit more atmosphere instead of echoes from players and coaches.
After just one round of matches to kick-off the restart, TV ratings are already booming and are sure to trend upwards as the season nears its conclusion and tantalising match ups are offered. Players are sure to increase their match fitness and sharpness in the coming weeks to ensure there are some quality contests coming up between big six sides and relegation battlers.
Strong TV ratings gives a clear signal that fans are happy for a return to some kind of normality, even though it may not be exactly the same as before with crowds taken out of the equation.
The record figures achieved so far by Sky Sports are an encouraging start for the Premier League – as fans adhere to social distancing guidelines while they wait for a potential return to watch their team live around the grounds.
Previous ArticleNext Article

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

Avatar
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

Avatar
Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend