Plans to honour the Lionesses with a statue outside Wembley Stadium have progressed, Football Association chief Mark Bullingham says.
Bullingham was speaking down the road from the team’s tournament base in Terrigal, New South Wales, three nights before first-time World Cup finalists England will play Spain for the title.
The Lionesses secured their first major trophy at last summer’s European Championships and could add another 13 months later with victory in Sydney on Sunday.
Bullingham said: “In terms of statues it’s something we are looking at post Euros (2022), we’ve made progress on that, and it would be right to have something to commemorate that success outside Wembley.
“We’ve made progress with the discussions but I don’t think we can announce any more than that yet.
“There are many stages you’ve got to get through – we’ve managed to get through the first stage.
“You have to go through various permissions – we’ve gone through that. The next stage is working on the design.”
Who will feature and how remains up in the air, though Bullingham added: “Our starting point was more for plans around a collective but we’ll see what design ideas come up, and you can imagine the iconic images that came out of the Euros.
“There’s some brilliant things which could be produced. Our starting point is that it’s a brilliant team.”
The time-scale for the statue’s erection is also unknown and, said Bullingham, “out of our hands” as the process also involves Brent Council, although he remains optimistic further progress is imminent.
Before the World Cup, England captain Millie Bright tweeted a statement, signed by her team-mates, outlining the players’ disappointment over the fact that an ongoing dispute with the FA over bonus payments and commercial structures had not been solved.
In the statement, the Lionesses promised to “pause discussions, with full intentions of revisiting them following the tournament,” adding, “We collectively feel a strong sense of responsibility to grow the game. And while our focus now switches fully to the tournament ahead, we believe every tackle, pass and goal will contribute to the work we are committed to doing off the pitch”.
FIFA announced its new prize money structure for this World Cup in early June, just under a month before England flew to Australia to begin pre-tournament training and preparation.
An increased prize pot of 110 million US dollars (£84.2m) came after an open letter to FIFA signed by 150 players from 25 national teams called for equal conditions and a guarantee that at least 30 per cent of prize money would be allocated to players.
For the first time, FIFA has earmarked specific amounts for each player, increasing the deeper their team goes in the tournament, though the funds will ultimately still be distributed to federations to then allocate.
Each player on Sunday’s World Cup-winning team is set to receive $270,000 (£211,785), while the runners-up will get $195,000 (£152,813) apiece.
The Lionesses want more than that, with countries including two-time champions the United States offering additional match bonuses.
Bullingham said: “We’re sorting it after the tournament. I think they have a very strong case before, a very strong case after but the reality is, there’s a discussion to be had.
“There wasn’t a lot of time before the tournament, FIFA announced the prize money very late and a completely different model that led to a different type of discussion so it just means there wasn’t a lot of time. It’s more time being an issue rather than anything else.”
The Lionesses’ Euro 2022 triumph captivated the country and drove both spectators and participants to girls’ and women’s football in record numbers, while the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Championship are on target to move out from under the FA umbrella and into an independent club-owned structure next summer.
Bullingham was optimistic about the future of the English women’s game, but pragmatically pointed out commercial investment still lags behind the eye-watering sums funnelled to the men.
He added: “I know people always think if you win a tournament you can flick a switch and you can get multi-million pound deals flying in the door. That isn’t the reality (though) we’d love it to be.”
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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