Almost 20 per cent of playing time at the Women’s World Cup went to players from English-based clubs.
Spanish champions Barcelona were the dominant individual club as their nation defeated England in the final and here, the PA news agency looks at what the statistics show.
Super League shows the way
Twenty of England’s 23 finalists play for Women’s Super League clubs, with Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh contributing to Barca’s tally and Georgia Stanway of Bayern Munich the other exception.
That was a big factor in the English league’s dominance but, mirroring the growth of the men’s Premier League, the collection of top talent from around the world has also contributed significantly.
While none of the Spain squad play in the WSL, beaten semi-finalists Sweden and Australia both gave more than 45 per cent of their minutes to players based in England.
A total of 89 players from English clubs featured on the pitch in Australia and New Zealand, combining for 29,104 minutes of playing time out of the 146,252 minutes across all players at the tournament (19.9 per cent).
Ever-present Lionesses Mary Earps and Alex Greenwood led the way with 756 minutes each, with Australia’s Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord playing 750 and 749 respectively.
English-based players also scored 37 goals, 10 more than those from any other domestic league, led by four each from Sweden and Arsenal defender Amanda Ilestedt and Manchester City’s Dutch midfielder Jill Roord.
Ilestedt and 15 Arsenal team-mates combined for 6,048 minutes and a dozen goals, while 16 Chelsea players played a total of 5,228 minutes. City’s 13 representatives played 4,858 minutes and scored 11 goals, the latter figure one behind Barca and Arsenal’s leading total.
Barca success continues
Those figures are eclipsed by Barca, who had a tournament-high 18 players and 7,608 minutes of playing time while matching Arsenal’s goal tally.
The club won last season’s Spanish title and Champions League and nine of their players – Irene Paredes, Ona Batlle, Aitana Bonmati, Salma Paralluelo, Mariona Caldentey, Cata Coll, Laia Codina, Alexia Putellas and Maria Perez – can now call themselves world champions as well.
That came at the expense of Walsh and Bronze in the final while Fridolina Rolfo reached the last four with Sweden. Norway pair Caroline Graham Hansen and Ingrid Syrstad Engen, Switzerland’s Ana Maria Crnogorcevic, Nigeria forward Asisat Oshoala, Italy teenager Giulia Dragoni and Brazil’s Geyse were their other representatives.
Paris St Germain edged out Real Madrid, and their seven Spain players, for fifth place in playing time and matched their eight goals, a total also shared by Lyon and American side Racing Louisville – home of Brazil’s Ary Borges, who scored a hat-trick against Panama, and South Africa’s Thembi Kgatlana and China’s Wang Shuang with their two goals apiece.
Another notably overachieving club in the goals column were Japan’s MyNavi Sendai with five. They had only one representative at the World Cup but that player was Hinata Miyazawa, who won the Golden Boot as her country reached the quarter-finals.
Malacia makes Man Utd comeback after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Malacia makes injury comeback for Under-21s after 17 months out
Tyrell Malacia made his injury comeback after a 17-month spell on the sidelines, returning for Manchester United Under-21s against Huddersfield in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.
The Netherlands international has not played since coming off the bench for his country against Croatia in the Nations League semi-final in June 2023.
Since that game, Malacia has had knee surgery twice in an attempt to solve an injury that had proved difficult to manage.
The 25-year-old made 39 appearances in all competitions for United after signing in the 2022-23 season, but has not featured for the first team since.
He played for 45 minutes in Huddersfield and was taken off at half-time, although it was a quiet night for him and he rarely got on the ball.
Malacia's return to competitive action coincided with the day that new head coach Ruben Amorim met some of United's senior players at the training ground.
Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Leny Yoro, Kobbie Mainoo and Toby Collyer were all among the players he saw while doing their individual injury rehab.
Taylor pleased with Man City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino were on target in the second half at the Joie Stadium, moving them three points clear at the top of Group D.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
The hosts dominated for large parts of the encounter, ending with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.75 from their 16 shots, while also accumulating 73.6% possession.
But Taylor was happy with his side's display and explained the physical test against the Swedish champions was something his players will benefit from moving forward.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad.
Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the Women's Super League, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
