Kansas City Current will begin the new NWSL season on Saturday at the first bespoke women’s football stadium.

Co-owned by NFL star Patrick Mahomes, KC Current believe the move can be a seminal moment for women’s football across the globe.

“We are the first and we won’t be the last,” said co-owner Angie Long.

“I’d like to know what major successful sports franchise in the world is just happy to sit back and be a tenant in somebody else’s stadium.

“Every time one team levels up, the expectations of the players become that they deserve this – it begins to feel like the new norm.

“For too long, many female athletes are used to the norm of being second and we can set the role model that they aren’t and that can change [the] perspective.”

Angie and co-owners Chris Long and Brittany Mahomes – wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick – announced plans for the construction of the $117m arena in 2021.

It was to be the first stadium purpose-built for a team in the NWSL – the top tier of women’s football in the United States.

“World-class facilities have proven to be a catalyst in transforming all professional sports,” said Angie Long upon the announcement.

“Tremendous momentum exists in women’s sports specifically, and we are so proud to play a major role in ensuring the sport and also our region benefit from the economics and growth offered by a stadium of this magnitude.”

While CPKC Stadium was being built, KC Current played their matches at Children’s Mercy Park, home of Major League Soccer side Sporting Kansas City.

Moving to a home of their own has been a success with supporters, with season tickets selling out.

Women’s football has transformed across the globe in recent years, with Women’s Super League teams regularly playing to big crowds in stadiums that were previously the preserve of men’s teams, and England’s Lionesses winning Euro 2022 at a packed-out Wembley.

Just last month, Arsenal hosted Manchester United at Emirates Stadium in front of a WSL record 60,160 crowd, as visibility and popularity continue to grow.

There is expected to be further progress to come, with a number of women’s sides in England currently sharing grounds with men’s EFL and non-league sides.

In 2023, Brighton and Hove City Council voted to build a new stadium for Brighton’s women’s team, which will be the first of its kind in England.

KC Current’s Chris Long says it is “common sense” to give female athletes the same elite facilities as men, and he considers the CPKC Stadium as just the start for women’s football teams across the world.

“It’s about knowing the platform of women’s soccer and knowing that we, from investing, can make a large impact and really, we hope, change the game globally,” he said.

“For me, I want my girls, girls broadly, worldwide to have the same opportunities that I have as a man.

“These facilities, it just makes common sense to have them also purpose-built for women’s professional sports.

“There is nothing that is unusual about that.

“We definitely won’t be the last. I think momentum [builds] momentum and, as an example, Angie and I have fielded many calls and Zooms talking about the training facility and stadium.

“There has been a lot of interest globally.

“I think people are really sharpening their pencils on something that is a crucial ingredient in where you want your team to go.”