Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall believes the continued growth of the Women's Super League should lead to an English team winning the Women's Champions League soon.
The Gunners won the UEFA Women's Cup in 2006-07, but no English side has lifted the trophy since the inception of the Champions League format in 2009, with Chelsea losing to Barcelona in the final in 2020-21.
Ahead of Arsenal's quarter-final second leg against Bayern Munich, with the German outfit leading 1-0 from the first leg, Eidevall expressed his optimism for WSL teams in Europe in future.
"It's natural that the clubs who have invested the most have also been the most successful ones," the Swedish coach said. "If you see how the WSL has grown this year with more games played at bigger stadiums, good attendances, but also great atmospheres.
"We also see the excitement and competition around all three things that matter in the league – competition to win the league, competition to qualify for the Champions League, [and] competition to not be relegated.
"That means that a lot of games here in the spring will have an important sporting outcome, which is great for the entertainment value. Maybe not for managers' hearts and ability to not have grey hair colour, but for everyone else, that's exciting.
"That's building a brand that no other European league has at the moment. That's also going to be reflected then in how you can build and grow the product.
"While I think other European clubs have been successful because they've had owners and the structure to invest, English clubs will be successful because of the product we build together, with the league being the driving force behind that. It's going to create a better future for all English clubs if we are co-operating and building this together.
"I know that's what the players are looking for, they want to come to the most competitive league, the best environment, the best atmosphere.
"We're not there yet, but the first steps have been taken and it's important to keep taking those steps so the future can be for English clubs in Europe also."
According to Eidevall, it is a case of 'if you build it, the trophies will come', and he hopes his Arsenal team are the ones to get over the line in Europe.
"If you build things over here, it's only of matter of time before an English club wins the Champions League," he added. "Both clubs that are in the competition this year have the potential to do it [Arsenal and Chelsea], it doesn't have to be in the distant future. Time will be in the English clubs' favour as long as this progression continues.
"Being the champion of a continent, it is probably the greatest thing you can win in club football in Europe and we very proud in our history to be the only English club that did it. If, in the future, we could repeat that, it would be great.
"I have the belief that we can beat any team on any give day so let's make the most of it tomorrow and maybe we can progress. Then once you reach semi-finals, everyone is capable of winning the trophy."
Reggae Girlz striker Khadija “Bunny” Shaw scored her 10th goal of the Women’s Super League season to help Manchester City Women secure a 2-0 win over Leicester City Women at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Shaw opened the scoring for City with a brilliantly placed header in the 61st minute before Chloe Kelly sealed the win in the 74th minute with her first goal of the season.
Manchester City Women are now third in the WSL table with 26 points from 12 games with a goal difference of 14. Manchester United Women and Chelsea Women are ahead of them with 28 points from 11 games, respectively.
Shaw’s 10th goal in 12 games puts her one goal ahead of Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly and four ahead of Chelsea’s Sam Kerr in the race for the golden boot.
Jordan Nobbs has been backed to "cement her place" in the England team after ending a 12-year Arsenal career by making a surprise move to Aston Villa.
The 69-cap midfielder is a former Lionesses vice-captain whose career has been hit by knee and ankle injuries in recent seasons.
The switch to Women's Super League rivals Villa, announced on Thursday, gives Nobbs a fresh start as she seeks regular club football.
Nobbs was recalled by Sarina Wiegman to the England squad after missing the Euro 2022 win through injury, and the 30-year-old has now signed an 18-month deal with Villa, hoping it will be the springboard to a key role with the Lionesses at the 2023 World Cup.
Daughter of former Hartlepool defender Keith Nobbs, Nobbs joined Arsenal from Sunderland in August 2010 and won WSL titles in 2011, 2012 and 2019 with the Gunners, also winning the Women's FA Cup four times.
She hit 81 goals in 270 games for Arsenal, the north London club said.
Villa manager Carla Ward said: "This is a big signing for us and Jordan is one of the country's most decorated footballers. She's a winner and will bring a wealth of experience that her new team-mates will thrive off."
Ward told Villa's website: "We're delighted to secure her signature and we hope this move can help the football club as well as cement her place back in the international set-up."
Arsenal sporting director Edu described Nobbs as "a wonderful servant" to the club who had "written her name into the Arsenal history books".
Vivianne Miedema feels "gutted" to have ruptured her ACL after lightning struck twice for Arsenal, with the Netherlands striker suffering the same cruel knee injury as her partner Beth Mead.
Arsenal and Miedema confirmed the striker's setback on Monday, with the club saying the WSL's all-time record goalscorer faces an "extended" lay-off, just like Mead who sustained the same blow in November.
Both could now miss the Women's World Cup, which will be hosted by Australia and New Zealand in July and August next year.
Miedema appears to have counted herself out of the reckoning for that tournament, four days after the injury occurred in a European clash with Lyon.
She said: "It was one of those moments, where I knew straight away. So many things going through your head: I won't be able to help my team anymore this season, no World Cup, surgery and rehab for a long time."
She expects "plenty of difficult days" and said there had already been tears.
The anterior cruciate ligament injury is one that requires surgery and a long recovery period, and Arsenal's hopes in this season's Women's Super League and Women's Champions League have taken a fresh hit with the loss of Miedema so soon after Mead's setback.
Mead posted a message of support to her 26-year-old girlfriend and team-mate, saying: "STRONGER TOGETHER! I was given sympathy for 3 weeks and now she has to go get some of her own but we got this, YOU got this."
England international Mead joked that there would be "two new signings incoming", but the jollity masks a bitter reality for Arsenal, both players, and their national teams.
Arsenal said in a statement: "We can confirm that Vivianne Miedema suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament during our UEFA Women's Champions League match against Lyon at Emirates Stadium on Thursday.
"Viv will undergo surgery in the coming days and will unfortunately be ruled out for an extended period of time. A more detailed timescale will be established once the operation is complete.
"Everyone at Arsenal wishes Viv well in her recovery and will be providing her with all the support she needs to return to action as soon as possible."
England's Euro 2022-winning forward Beth Mead has signed a new contract with Arsenal, the Gunners have confirmed.
Mead was named Player of the Tournament after top scoring with six goals as Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses won the Women's Euros on home soil earlier this year.
Mead is currently sidelined after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament in a Women's Super League defeat to Manchester United last month and will spend an "extended period" out of action.
Having put pen to paper on her new deal – the length of which was not disclosed, Mead targeted a successful return in the coming months.
"I'm so happy to have signed a new deal with Arsenal," she told the club's website. "This club is home for me.
"I've grown so much here as a player and a person and I know we can achieve so much more together in the years to come.
"I want to compete to win the biggest trophies in the game and I know that the ambitions at Arsenal match my own, so I can't wait to get back onto the pitch and help to deliver the success our supporters deserve."
Mead recorded 33 goal involvements (14 goals, 19 assists) in 40 appearances for Arsenal last season and was named England Women's Player of the Year for the campaign.
Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall said: "It's wonderful news that we have agreed a new deal with Beth. She is a world-class footballer and has proven that on the biggest stage of them all.
"I have so much admiration for the way she has handled success and adversity on and off the pitch over the past few years, and I'm sure she will approach the next few months with the positive attitude we all know Beth for."
Reggae Girlz striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw was again on the scoresheet for Manchester City Women as they defeated Tottenham Women 3-0 in the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) at Brisbane Road in London on Saturday.
Shaw produced a double to help City get their second win in four games, moving to fifth in the WSL.
Her first came just before halftime in the 41st minute before getting her second just after the break in the 47th minute. Lauren Hemp got City’s third goal in the 76th minute.
Shaw is now the leading scorer in the WSL so far this season with five goals from four games.
Reggae Girlz striker Khadija Shaw scored four goals to help Manchester City Women secure a 7-2 hammering of Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Women’s Super League at the Manchester City Academy Stadium on Saturday.
Shaw, who now has eight goals in 15 matches this season in the WSL, scored her goals in the 3rd, 12th, 57th and 61st minutes to help her Manchester City team move to third in the table with 41 points from 20 matches.
“The team looks to me to score goals so to get four today is an unbelievable feeling,” Shaw said in a post-match interview.
The other City goals came from Caroline Weir in the 16th, Alex Greenwood in the 68th and Lauren Hemp in the 69th minute.
Chelsea currently leads the WSL with 50 points from 20 matches followed by Arsenal with 46 points from 19 matches.
Jamaica Reggae Girl, Khadija Shaw, didn’t find the back of the net but Manchester City Women ended the streak of Chelsea Women to claim the Women's League Cup on Saturday.
The win was the first in three years for the sky blues who had to come from behind to claim the title. Chelsea took the lead through Sam Kerr in the first half, but a furious rally from the Citizens in the second turned the game on its head. After the interval Caroline Weir arrived late in the box with a tidy put away to pull the team’s level.
Nine minutes later, the travelling City fans, although fewer in number, had cause to celebrate again as Ellen White turned in the second from close range.
Weir put the match out of reach with another fine finish which flew into the top corner. The trophy was the team’s first since they won the FA Cup in 2020. The win also represented the first in four attempts against Chelsea this season, after losing both league meetings and a rescheduled 2021 FA Cup semi-final in October.
England star Georgia Stanway became Manchester City's record scorer at the age of 23 as she came off the bench to hit a hat-trick in an 8-0 Women's FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest.
Stanway, who played for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics, has played in a wide range of positions during her City career and opened her goals account as a 16-year-old in 2015.
The attack-minded former PFA Women's Young Player of the Year showed her quality after Gareth Taylor introduced her for the second half against third-tier outfit Forest, who staged the visit of the Women's Super League giants at the City Ground.
Stanway's first strike in the 50th minute moved her level with fellow England star Nikita Parris' total of 62 goals for City, before she took the record outright in the 71st minute. Barrow-born Stanway netted again in stoppage time, rounding off the scoring as City strode through to the fifth round.
City boss Taylor said afterwards: "I’m so pleased for her because she's showing real hot form at the moment, and she's been great to work with, particularly her attitude and application to try new positions and affect the play wherever she plays. I'm really delighted for her today."
Ellen White rescued Manchester City in a fierce derby as the England striker hit a landmark goal to secure a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Staring at a fourth successive defeat in the Women's Super League, City trailed and were down to 10 players after Georgia Stanway's red card.
But White was on hand to slot in her first goal of the season after 79 minutes, when Jess Park's thumping strike was pushed against the crossbar by Mary Earps.
The tap-in means White has now scored against all 17 clubs she has faced in the WSL, netting against more different sides in the league than any other player.
She has previously played for Arsenal, Notts County and Birmingham in the competition, which began in 2011.
This season's WSL title is already probably beyond City, the 2016 champions, and they entered Saturday's derby six points behind United after just four matches of the 22-game campaign. Injuries to the likes of FIFA Best Women's Player winner Lucy Bronze and Steph Houghton have left their ranks depleted, and both were absent again.
Stanway was dismissed after 35 minutes when her dangerously high boot caught Leah Galton high on the thigh in midfield, but City snatched the lead three minutes later when Khadija Shaw headed in a cross from the left by Demi Stokes.
City's run of three defeats was their worst in the WSL, and a fourth was on the cards when Lucy Staniforth's backheeled flick for a 72nd-minute equaliser was followed by Alessia Russo firing hosts United ahead.
At that stage, United were on course for their first win over City in the WSL, having previously managed just one point from three games.
The tussle at Leigh Sports Village had another twist in store though, and White, who had replaced Shaw just before the hour mark, showed her poacher's instinct to tuck away the loose ball after Earps saved from Park.
City star Lauren Hemp told the BBC: "The fight and determination throughout the whole game was top drawer. I'm so proud of how we've turned it around this week. It just shows how together the team is and hopefully this will be the turning point.
"We showed the quality this team has and that we deserved to put on a show. That's what you want in Manchester derbies, and we did it justice. I'm so proud of the team."
City boss Gareth Taylor wanted a win but said: "It was a roller coaster and when you're potentially staring at a loss at 2-1 down, I think you have to say reluctantly it's a fair point."
Jamaica international Khadijah Shaw scored on debut for new club Manchester City who engineered a rousing start to the English FA Women’s Super League (WSL) with a 4-0 win over Everton.
The 24-year-old, who secured a move to the English League earlier this summer, did not take long to get on the scoresheet, as she found the back of the net in the 38th minute.
The prolific Jamaican striker smartly stuck the ball into the net from 6 yards away after being set up at the end of a sweeping counter-attacking move. The goal put the team 3-0 ahead. Earlier Vicky Losada had opened the scoring in the 26th minute, with Canadian international Janine Beckie doubling the lead in the 36th.
Club captain Steph Houghton then rubbed salt into the wounds of the Toffees with a goal in the 67th minute.
Shaw signed for City in June on a three-year deal after a two-year stint with French club Bordeaux where last season she finished as the league’s leading goalscorer.
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