A deafening roar at Twickenham capped a 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup that smashed attendance records, while India’s first Women’s Cricket World Cup triumph sparked nationwide celebrations.
A’Ja Wilson delivered a jaw-dropping Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season to redefine what dominance looks like and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone raced to a sensational world title at a new distance in the 400m.
While the year was full of lasting images of women in sport that reshaped their visibility, it was also marked by new franchises, bigger television audiences and greater advertising impact, sending women’s sport into 2026 on a wave of momentum.
Red Roses redefine rugby’s potential
England hosted and won a Rugby World Cup that shattered records and redefined the sport’s potential.
The more than 440,000 tickets sold was triple the number at the 2021 edition and the crescendo was at Twickenham where 81,885 fans – the biggest crowd to watch a women’s rugby match – witnessed England’s Red Roses triumph 33–13 over Canada.
Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s chief of Women’s Rugby, described the spectacle as “something girls’ dreams are made of”.
More than half the tournament spectators were female and a huge 50 per cent attended their first-ever women’s rugby match.