The large trophy with its sweeping ribbon-like arms goes up, waves and waves of confetti shower over the 10,000-plus fans and red and white smoke erupts from behind the stage and the crowd sings. Arsenal, the new champions of Europe, were given a heroes’ welcome in north London two daysafter their stunning victoryover Barcelona in the Champions League final.
The scenes in Armoury Square, outside the Emirates Stadium, were reminiscent of those from Trafalgar Squarethe day after the Lionesses liftedtheir maiden European title in 2022, or those in the same N5 location when Arsenal’s men’s team lifted the FA Cup in 2015 and 2017 (there was no public celebration in 2020 because of Covid restrictions).
In terms of women’s club football, in England, no celebration of a trophy comes close to matching it. This was not a celebration ofArsenal Women, it was a celebration of Arsenal and the fruits of a long-term one-club project were evident in the numbers that showed up less than 48 hours after the historic 1-0 defeat of Barcelona in Lisbon on Saturday evening.
The centre-back Steph Catley, who anchored a phenomenal full-team defensive effort alongside Leah Williamson, moments after coming off the stage, said: “I had an idea in my head of what it would look like, but it didn’t equate to that. That was very special and something I’m so proud to be a part of.”
It had been short notice for the celebrations and some fans had turned up at 6am to get a prime position at the front of the barriers. Catley said: “It says everything. They always show up for us … As a female footballer, you look at Arsenal and you want to play there. You’ve got the support and everything you need. There are world class players, but the fans make it so special. To bring them a trophy and thank them for their support is the best.”
Williamson added: “You look at the turnout today and you think about what we’ve done over the last couple of years, how we’ve positioned ourselves and how the club have positioned us in terms of a respect point of view. Then to contribute to that with a trophy win, it feels like we did our bit. The work that’s been done behind the scenes for the last couple of years is world leading. Now there’s a trophy to match that and I’m very proud of that. This is the stuff that makes you stay and want to come back.”
The trophies have been the missing piece, two League Cup wins in 2023 and 2024 not enough to satisfy the demands of the most decorated women’s team in England. “You have to win trophies, you have to,” said Williamson. “I’m so proud of what we do off the pitch, who we are, how we lead and how we carry ourselves, I’m so proud of that but I want to win and Arsenal should be winning. I’ve looked at that legacy all my life and I wanted to contribute to it. I didn’t want to end my career just being loyal. Loyalty is great but loyalty with trophies is just something else. This week I’ve spoken to Tony Adams and Thierry Henry, people I watched, they were incredible and they won and that’s why they are remembered the way they are.”
Fans were treated to speeches from the head coach Renée Slegers, Williamson, the scorer of the winning goal in Lisbon, Stina Blackstenius, and a very merry Katie McCabe before the trophy was brought on stage by two Arsenal in the Community participants, 11-year-old Daisy Martin and seven-year-old Celine Davie. Then the songs and dancing began and a relaxed Win the dog was momentarily lofted in the air by Beth Mead and Slegers to the delight of fans below.
Arsenal have maximised this moment, next season’s shirts printed with ‘champions’ and ‘25’ on the back in gold were for sale in the shop which swung its doors wide soon after the players exited the stage, alongside T-shirts, scarves, hats and hoodies paying tribute to the achievement. However, they have spent big too, the money invested in everything around the final – from the hotels and travel to the parties and Emirates celebrations – far exceeding the €350,000 (£293,000) prize pot for the winners, which is added to the money accrued throughout the tournament.
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For Williamson, a lifelong Arsenal fan who was a mascot when the team lifted a first European title in 2007, the stadium facade behind the celebrations fittingly a tribute to that side, it has been an extremely emotional bank holiday weekend.
“I always said, ‘trophy for England over trophy for Arsenal’,” she said. “Because, I just think you don’t pick your country, it’s a bit more of a fate thing, a bit more luck needs to be involved. But I feel ashamed now, because that feeling on Saturday was, I think right now, the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole entire life and I hope that other Arsenal fans are happy too. I know I lived a dream and I will never take it for granted.”
The last 48 hours have been about “trying to make it sink in”, said Williamson. “Genuinely just trying to figure out what’s happened, trying to remember. I’ve watched every bit of footage so it lives as long as possible in my memory. Then I’ve been connecting with loads of people, like Tessa Payne, she was my Under-10s coach, my first coach, I’ve wanted to reconnect with all those old faces, those people that have seen the journey over the years and the people that know how much I love Arsenal and know how much this would mean to me whether I was on the pitch or not.”