Women are spending more on following football teams than they are on beauty products, new research shows.

The research from Virgin Money surveyed 1,022 people and found that women spent £710m on match tickets alone, and they also spent £297m on club merchandise, such as replica shirts, scarves and programmes.

In total women spent £1.008bn on football games – £269m more than the £739m that they spent on beauty products and hair styling combined.

Virgin Money spokesman Scott Mowbray said: “Women love football just as much as men and they’re proving it with the amount they spend week in, week out.”