Ambitious plans have been unveiled by the Football Association and Women’s Super League for England to boast the first billion-pound league structure in women’s football.
A month on from the Lionesses’ reaching a second consecutive major final, the finer details on independent company NewCo, a crucial next step in the development of the women’s game, are drawing to a conclusion.
The FA currently owns the WSL and Women’s Championship, but this will change going into the 2024-25 campaign when NewCo take over the running of the two divisions, which will result in a restructure of power in a move similar to the Premier League’s 20-club governance model.
A working group, which contains key figures from Premier League clubs alongside FA director of women’s football Baroness Sue Campbell, was set up by the FA in February led by Nikki Doucet, a former director at Nike.
Progress on the structure, financial model and governance of NewCo has been made and plans are in place for WSL and Women’s Championship teams to receive the relevant information they require by the end of 2023 to run the two divisions from next season.
While WSL chair Dawn Airey, part of the working group, recognises the challenges that will come, she is excited about the potential of England’s
top-two divisions earning a potential one billion pounds in revenue.
Airey said: “We are making good progress (on NewCo) because this has to be resolved before we go into the next season. That is the timetable that we’ve committed to.
“I’d say it’s been incredibly collaborative. It’s been a bit of a bit of an eye opener for some of the chief executives to really understand some of the challenges that the leagues face, but the challenges are opportunities.
“Somebody quoted me an amazing statistic – it just resonates – which is the whole of women’s sport globally gets a billion dollars in revenues from sponsorship and gate.
“Men’s sport gets half a trillion. That’s an enormous difference and it shows the enormous potential. The enormous potential for women sport and women’s football in particular.
“One of the stated goals that we have is to make this league the first billion-pound women’s league in the world. That is league revenue and club revenue and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do it.”
The WSL has grown enormously during the past 12 months, with 94 of the division’s players appearing at the World Cup, 31 more than from the United States’ National Women’s Soccer League.
Airey’s billion-pound plans, which are backed by Baroness Campbell, are based on the revenue of clubs from both the WSL and Women’s Championship, currently a semi-professional league that gets a 25 per cent split of the revenue going into England’s top flight division.
WSL chair Airey added: “The Championship is a really, really important part of this ecosystem so the billion revenue, that isn’t a figure we just plucked from the air.
“It is based on a pretty decent and detailed business plan over the course of the next 10 years.
View this post on Instagram“There is potential for clubs to think differently about their revenues and actually that is both the Championship and the Super League.”
Baroness Campbell acknowledged the gulf currently between the WSL and Women’s Championship, which will go fully professional in the long-term, and revealed plans for cost controls to be brought in alongside the need for investment in infrastructure.
“The women’s game is at a really critical point here, both for itself and for what it can accomplish in wider society as a whole,” Baroness Campbell said.
“So, we’re really excited about the year ahead. The Championship’s started, one of the big challenges for us as we move forward is how do we make sure the gaps between Super League and Championship and the Championship and National League don’t just get bigger?
“Those are big challenges for us going forward.”
Meanwhile, Baroness Campbell admitted VAR will eventually be introduced into the WSL after a version with less cameras compared to the Premier League was used for a Chelsea friendly with Roma earlier this month.
“At the end of the day, it has to come in. So, we just got to find a way through it,” Campbell revealed.
The FA’s director of women’s football explained VAR’s introduction could be linked to commercial investment and the WSL TV rights will go to market around the end of this year, with the current deals with BBC and Sky Sports expiring at the conclusion of the upcoming season.
“What we don’t want it to be is just a few very rich clubs and to be fair to the CEOs of those clubs, they don’t want it,” Baroness Campbell insisted.
“A league of four isn’t going to be sellable to broadcasters and isn’t going to be commercially attractive, so we need a league that really is vibrant. Everybody gets that.”
Vlahovic out of Juventus clash with AC Milan
Dusan Vlahovic will miss Juventus' trip to AC Milan in Serie A this weekend and is also a doubt for the Champions League game at Aston Villa, head coach Thiago Motta has confirmed.
Vlahovic returned from the international break with a muscle problem in his left thigh, and the manager, after he confirmed the Serbian's absence for Saturday's game at San Siro, was asked about his chances of playing on Wednesday at Villa Park.
"I don't know. He definitely won't be there tomorrow. We hope to have him back as soon as possible," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"Injuries are part of football. Now it's Vlahovic's turn, but we'll keep playing with the same principles, attacking and defending together."
Vlahovic is the latest of Motta's injury problems at Juventus. Argentine winger Nicolas Gonzalez missed the last six league games and is still unavailable, while Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik is a long-term absentee.
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz will also miss the game with Milan and defender Juan Cabal recently suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, the same issue which will keep fellow defender Gleison Bremer out for the rest of the season.
"I'm really disappointed for Cabal because, like Bremer, he'll be out for a long time," Motta said.
"This is another reason to push ourselves, to commit that bit more so that these absences don't weigh too heavily."
Juventus go into the game as the only unbeaten side in Serie A, but find themselves sixth in the standings in what is so far a very tight title race, with just two points separating Motta's side from leaders Napoli.
"It's very balanced and this is good for both us and the public," Motta said.
"We must all try to continue like this. We have to try to get as many positive results as possible."
Milan are one place behind Juve but six points off Motta's side.
Schwarz believes pressure will bring out the best in Red Bulls
New York Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz says pressure is good for players as they prepare to face rivals New York City FC in the MLS Eastern Conference semifinal.
The Red Bulls beat defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew 1-0 in the first of their best-of-three series before edging them 5-4 on penalties in Game 2.
They are playing in the semifinals for the first time since 2018, though it is the first time they are meeting their city rivals in the postseason in their history.
Schwarz acknowledged there was a lot riding on this game but is sure the pressure can bring out the best in his team.
"To feel the pressure as a player and head coach is good," he told reporters. "We need the pressure to bring our best performance and level.
"Without pressure, it's not possible. Now we have this historic derby on Saturday and we're very excited.
"Our main target is to win this game, but our focus is to get a result like we had against Columbus. The last three weeks have been looking at how we can create our best performance for Saturday."
Meanwhile, NYCFC had to come from behind in round one after losing their first match to FC Cincinnati but won the second at home before going through with a 6-5 penalty shootout win in the decider.
Head coach Nick Cushing is delighted to have home advantage for the semifinal tie but says he is not yet thinking about securing the same fate in the next round.
"I've learned over my tenure here as assistant coach and as head coach that the next game is the most important part," Cushing said.
"The whole focus is hosting a playoff semifinal at home. We're really proud that we've done everything to get to this opportunity, but there are many more challenges ahead, and we cannot look further than the first 10 minutes of the game, because that is our main focus.
"And then, through there, we have a game plan and half-time. We're working through this game, and that is our whole focus."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York City FC – Alonzo Martinez
Twelve of Alonzo Martinez's 17 goals this season (regular season and playoffs) have been scored in home matches, while Santiago Rodriguez has scored 11 of his 13 goals at home.
Both players found the net in NYCFC's home win over Cincinnati in Game 2 of their first-round series.
New York Red Bulls – Emil Forsberg
Emil Forsberg became the 14th different Red Bulls player to record a goal and an assist in a single playoff match in Game 2 of New York's first-round series against Columbus Crew.
No player has more than one such game in the team's postseason history.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY FC WIN
This will be the first playoff meeting between New York City FC and the Red Bulls, but the fifth in knockout rounds in all competitions.
The Red Bulls eliminated NYCFC in each of the previous four knockout round meetings, doing so in the US Open Cup three times and the Leagues Cup once.
NYCFC has won five of their eight all-time home playoff matches, including the last three in a row. All three teams that defeated NYCFC on the road in the playoffs went on to reach the MLS Cup Final (Toronto FC in 2016 & 2019, Atlanta United in 2018).
The Red Bulls' 1-0 win at Columbus in Game 1 on October 29 ended a six-match road losing streak in postseason play for the club. The Red Bulls have won multiple road playoff games in a single season twice before, doing so in 2008 and 2017.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York City FC – 46.5%
Draw – 26.5%
New York Red Bulls – 27%
Serie A side Genoa confirm sacking of head coach Gilardino
Serie A side Genoa have confirmed the departure of their head coach Alberto Gilardino, with Patrick Vieira reportedly on his way in.
Gilardino, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, leaves the club with them sitting just one point above the relegation size with 10 points from 12 matches this season.
A former striker who played for clubs including Genoa, Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, Gilardino took charge of Genoa in 2022 and helped them earn promotion to the top division before a 11th-place finish during the 2023-24 season.
"The club thanks Gilardino for the goals achieved together over the years and wishes him the best for his career," Genoa said in a statement.
The 42-year-old saw his side salvage a late 1-1 draw against Cesc Fabregas' Como in their last match before the international break.
Genoa were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the second round following a defeat to Sampdoria on penalties in September.
Arsenal legend Vieira is set to replace him, according to multiple reports.
The former France midfielder has been out of work since leaving Strasbourg by mutual consent in July.
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