Column: Big changes are coming to the women's game
In the past week, it's been confirmed the Champions League will get a new format, it will be joined by a new secondary competition, and NewCo are taking over the WSL & WC. So, what to make of it all?!
It shouldn’t be a surprise given how we constantly say women’s football is perhaps the fastest growing sport anywhere in the world, but with off pitch growth comes hand-in-hand on pitch growth to go with it.
This week has seen some of the biggest changes side-by-side in recent years, with both big news on the domestic scene in England – which I’ll come onto – but also the news the UEFA Champions League format will change from the 2025/26 season, as well as the addition of a secondary competition, presumably something close to replicating the Europa League.
The current format came under scrutiny this season when clubs such as Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolfsburg were eliminated in the qualifying stages, with the league path deduced to be decidedly harder than the champions path, although the new format could keep the two split pathways into the new group stage.
Looking at the men’s format which starts a year earlier and means those of us in the women’s game will get a year to understand how it will look come 2025, the champions path and league path remain for the qualifying stages, so we may still have the same peril which saw some big clubs miss out on the group stage.
The bone thrown to said clubs by UEFA is the group stage will expand from 16 to 18, though perhaps not as big a change as many had hoped, and probably minimised by the fact those who don’t make the Champions League will presumably drop into the new secondary competition.
More details of the format of both competitions are expected later today, but this doesn’t feel like the change fans wanted, and simply just to tow in line with the men’s version of the competition. How it will work is instead of four mini groups, all 18 teams will be ranked in one big group, but still split into fixtures by seeding.
Essentially, everyone still plays six games, everyone still plays three at home and three away, so what’s really changed bar taking away the peril of mini groups? In the men’s format, of the 36 teams, the top eight qualify for the second round automatically, the following 16 play play-offs for the final eight spots, and the rest drop into the Europa League.
With 18 teams, perhaps it will be the top four who qualify automatically for the quarter-finals, then the next eight play play-offs for the final four spots? And the bottom six drop into the new secondary competition. Who knows? But hopefully we find out today. It does feel like much less peril for the top sides though who should comfortably hold down those top spots given the disparity which still exists across Europe in the women’s game.
Meanwhile, closer to home, it was announced all 24 Barclays Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship clubs had finally voted for NewCo to take over the running of the leagued from The FA from next season.
How that looks and what will change remains to be seen, but on the face of it not a lot from a sporting point of view. Teams will turn up on a Sunday, play for 90 minutes in the hope of walking away with three points.
Working freelance for a Championship side, I’ll admit I’m a little non-plussed myself about what it all really means, but there’s a feeling the gap between leagues may get even bigger. Only one Championship club originally said yes to the proposals, and even though the proposals didn’t change, the remaining 11 then voted yes to something they originally said no to, essentially out of fear they’d be left with nothing.
Hardly an ideal start.
Check out over 100 more unique stories in WFC’s Premium section, available for just £45 for 12 months, paid in one go, or a £6 a month rolling subscription.
All subscriptions come with a 7-day free trial to allow you to explore our full archive.
Plus, guarantee you everything that is to come over the next 12 months…
The WSL teams will take 75% of the revenue, and year on year means those in the top division will pull further away from the WC, making promotion into the league harder to sustain, and probably ensuring the Continental Cup also becomes even more worthless than it already is.
On that note, the promotion and relegation situation still needs to change. One up, one down is just making it harder when someone does go up. Look at what Aston Villa and Leicester City have been able to do in the couple of years they’ve managed to sustain themselves in the league and the players they’ve signed. Even West Ham, who have struggled, signed Japan’s number nine Riko Ueki in the summer, how does a Championship go in and compete with that?
Bristol City have points on the board, but have found it tough because they are essentially going into a league where everyone is already well established, already earned a big slice of the Sky/Barclays pie and have invested heavily with it. Should Bristol City come straight back down, the next club should find it even tougher, and you may end up with a scenario where Bristol get caught in the middle, constantly bobbing up and down and leaving everyone else just waiting in the wings.
Hopefully one of NewCo’s first plans is to expand the WSL and open up promotion spots, before reverting perhaps to a two up, two down format and sticking with it. Right now, WSL clubs are benefitting from the knowledge if the team coming up struggles to adapt, they’re all safe, and the Championship clubs know if said team comes back down and hits the ground running, they’ve all had it.
On the positive side, it’s good this has happened, because it’s clear the FA wanted rid, but we will need to know more of the long-term plans to see how positive or negative this change will be moving forwards.
Back on UEFA, one resounding success – in my opinion – has been the UEFA Nations League, of which the first group stage concludes tomorrow. Surely watching England come back from 2-0 down in front of a packed Wembley to beat another top nation 3-2 is more thrilling than watching the Lionesses beat Latvia 20-0, right?
It rewards the best and punishes anyone who falls below that. It offers no breathing room, and on Friday we saw both Spain and Sweden lose, even if the world champions had already booked a spot in the finals. Barring a miracle, it looks like England will miss out and therefore Team GB will miss out on the Olympics, and it just goes to prove you cannot be under the required level at any point if you want to succeed.
It's also offering opportunities for those further down the chain, with the likes of Republic of Ireland and Finland earning promotion with five wins from five, but it punishes the smallest mistakes. Bosnia and Herzegovina, who sat top of their group in League B and looked good for promotion, conceded twice in a few minutes against Slovenia late on and have dropped below Czech Republic with just a game to go.
Speaking of Latvia, how nice is it for them to have won three of their five games and a chance of promotion? While I’m sure they’d still like the odd chance to play a top nation, promotion from League C does mean you’ll face a relegated side from League A, so it won’t be long before some of the so-called minnows get to face a Scotland, a Wales or a Switzerland, which is still a great test and one earned on merit.
Azerbaijan, Israel, Turkey, Malta and Kosovo have all gone from being regularly beaten badly to all unbeaten in their groups so far, and they will develop so much from those experiences and earning a winning mentality.
With so much to still be decided on Tuesday and the mouth-watering prospect of four of Europe’s elite facing off in February for both a trophy and a spot at the Paris Olympics, for me the change has been a huge success.
Hopefully UEFA’s most recent big change brings similar positives.
Excellent and common sense as usual Richard
Excellent summary 👌 & update. ⚽️👸🏽