It has been an incredibly busy week in Women’s football, despite no football matches being played plenty has happened off the pitch.
Josh Bunting looks back at what’s happened over the past 7 days in Women’s football.
Phil Neville To Leave Role As England Women’s Manager
England Women’s manager Phil Neville is set to leave his role next summer. The Football Association are set to make an announcement on his departure in the coming days.
The news comes after it was confirmed that the Women’s Euro 2021 tournament has been moved to 2022. Phils brother Gary told Sky Sports that “Phil was a little surprised” the news on his future had emerged but expects the FA to make a statement soon to “put some clarity around it”.
“He’s got 14 months left on his contract and obviously the Olympics and European Championship were within that period,” he said. The problem is now obviously with coronavirus, those tournaments have been taken out of the period and international managers’ contracts run to tournament ends”.
“If the tournaments have gone, then you’ve got a real problem in the sense that you’re just coaching friendlies. I think that’s the situation that’s developed”.
Neville was appointed as boss as England Women’s manager in 2018 and has led them to SheBelieves Cup success in 2019 and a World Cup Semi-final where England lost out 2-1 to eventual winners USA. But since last year’s quarter-final win over Norway, they have lost seven of 11 games and failed to retain their SheBelieves Cup crown last month.
It is still unclear whether or not he will be in charge of the women’s Great Britain side for next year’s postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo. Following this year’s SheBelieves Cup, Neville said he would walk away if his motivation waned, and said: “We need to take a step back now and start building the foundations again – getting back to the brilliant basics.”
Chelsea Women’s boss Emma Hayes has appeared to rule herself out of being Neville’s successor as she said. “It’s been no secret I have real big ambitions to win the Champions League”.
“I look forward to building on the work that I’ve done so far. Of course, it’s an honour to be linked with the national team: as an older person, I’ve probably been more considered about entering into international football at some point in my life, but right now, I’m extremely happy at Chelsea.”
Manchester United’s Casey Stoney and former United States World Cup coach Jill Ellis are also among the names to be replace Neville in the Lionesses dugout.
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The UEFA Executive Committee have confirmed that the postponed UEFA Women’s EURO 2021 will be played in England from 6 July to 31 July 2022. It is planned to use the same venues that were originally proposed to host the event.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says the move ensures the tournament will get the “spotlight it deserves”. He added: “By moving to the following year, we are ensuring that our flagship women’s competition will be the only major football tournament of the summer.”
The decision to move the 2021 Women’s European Championship came after UEFA announced on 17 March that EURO 2020 would be postponed to 2021 following the global outbreak of the Coronavirus and the duty of UEFA to protect the health of all those involved in the game, while allowing domestic leagues and European competitions to be completed.
The Football Associations director of Women’s football Baroness Sue Campbell said “As a nation and at the FA, we’re extremely proud to be hosting UEFA Women’s EURO 2021, and are fully committed to delivering a world-class experience for players, staff and fans alike as the best of the European game comes to England.
“However, the sporting calendar must adapt while the world tackles something much bigger than sport. In these unprecedented times, it should be reiterated that the health of our communities remains the absolute priority for us all”.
UEFA’s chief of women’s football, Nadine Kessler added “The core question guiding us together with the English FA was: what is best for women’s football?. With the Olympics now being confirmed for summer 2021, we firmly believe that moving to 2022 is in the best interests of the tournament, the players, the fans, women’s football partners and everybody involved in all areas and at all levels of the game.
“UEFA Women’s EURO is Europe’s biggest women’s sport event. It is also among the biggest sports events in the world, and therefore needs and deserves a platform of its own.
“This decision puts us in a position to deliver a tournament that attracts global attention, maximises media coverage and increases stadium attendances, and is therefore helping us to meet our core objective of inspiring the next generation of footballers.
“2022 also allows for further promotion and partner activation, which would have been much more difficult in what is now a crowded summer in 2021. It is a clear sign of commitment to our dedicated partners who have joined us since we decided to separate the sponsorship for women’s football from men’s football.”
As it stands however the latter stages of the Women’s Euros will coincide with the start of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which are held from 27 July-7 August. UEFA says there were “extensive discussions” with Birmingham 2022 organisers.
FA to investigate ACL injuries among Women’s footballers.
The Football Association is conducting an investigation in a bid to halt the number of ACL(anterior cruciate ligament) injuries among female footballers.
Twelve players in the top two tiers of English Women’s football have suffered ACL injuries this term while research has suggested that women are up to eight times more likely to suffer the injury than men. Arsenal duo Jordan Nobbs and Danielle Carter have also sustained the injury in their successful careers so far.
Nobbs told the BBC before the World Cup of which she was ruled out in that she believes there is a link between ACL injuries and menstrual cycles.
The FA says the results will be “carefully assessed over time”. It says the audit, which is in its “early stages”, will be conducted by “a group of experts from institutions involved in producing research around female athletes and/or women’s football”.
It added: “We will then be able to assess any trends with particular injuries, including ACL injuries. We can then analyse rates of injuries, comparing to previous audits in men’s and women’s football and other sports.”
Chelsea and Bristol City became the first clubs in the world to tailor their training programme around players’ menstrual cycles in an attempt to enhance performance and cut down on injuries.
The Robins had conducted more research into the menstrual cycle and why it is connected to ACL injuries but that is currently on hold due to the coronavirus crises. Manchester City, who have defender Aoife Mannion sidelined after suffering a cruciate injury while playing in the Champions League last October against Atletico Madrid are also believed to be engaged in studies surrounding ACL injuries.
The FA will also conduct research to “understand” the demands of the WSL and Women’s Championship and the “the physical characteristics that underpin” them. In addition to ACL-specific studies, The Telegraph also revealed the FA is widening its research to explore other key issues affecting female players in the game today.
Relative energy deficiency in sport, a syndrome found in sportswomen who have symptoms of disordered eating, absent periods and loss of bone density will be among other topics examined.
Jordan Nobbs Signs New Arsenal Contract.
Arsenal Women’s vice-captain Jordan Nobbs has signed a new contact at the club.
Nobbs has racked up 206 appearances for the Gunners to date netting on 66 occasions and has become of “Legendary Status” to the Arsenal faithful. Speaking to the club website she said “Arsenal is my everything now I think football has overtaken my life since the age of seven, but I think I’ve got Arsenal in my blood now and I’m very proud to say that. I think I’ve got some great years to come.”
Nobbs goes on to say” I knew the secret of success was dedication and hard work, I used to spend hours working on my first touch in the back garden and all them hours paid off when I joined the club.Back then I wanted to become an Arsenal legend, I wanted to win everything, I wanted to do that Arsenal”.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside Kelly Smith, Alex Scott and Jayne Ludlow I’ve been lucky enough to learn from the best and the main thing they taught me was passion and what this club means”.
“I’ve always given everything for this club, through the highs and the lows, I’ve never given up, I’ve been from being a young kid with a dream to living it and its all because of Arsenal, this club means everything to me, I love everything it stands for these last ten years have been the best years of my life, but I’m not done yet”.
” I’ve thought a lot about how I could announce this, fact is I just love this club, and I’m here to stay”.
Nobbs has picked up the Barclays FA Women’s Super League title three times, the Women’s FA Cup four times, and the FA Continental Tyres League Cup during her time at Borehamwood and there’s certainly more to come after she put pen to paper on the new deal.
Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro added
Putting football aside, she personifies what Arsenal means. “To have players staying here for pretty much their whole career is something that’s very, very special from a coaching perspective.
“They’re unique situations in coaching and in forming groups to have players who are engrained in the fabric of the club and we wish her all the best going forward. She’s an important part of our making as a squad.”
Sarah Bouhaddi To Leave Lyon.
France and Lyon goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi has confirmed she is leaving the European Champions after 11 years at the club.
During her time with Les Gones she picked up 10 league titles, 6 Champions League and 7 French Cups. Bouhaddi is the second longest serving player at Lyon behind club captain Wendie Renard but has decided to call time in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
It is time for me to take off, I grew up with this club, built a track record,” said the goalkeeper in a video on her Twitter account. “I thank my president, Jean-Michel Aulas who brought me so much and brought me to our sport. He allowed me to live my passion”.
Reports suggest that the shot stopper could be set for NWSL side Utah Royals alongside Lyon teammate Dzsenifer Marozsan
In an interview with Progrès on Friday , OL President Jean-Michel Aulas said he would not give up keeping Bouhaddi and Marozsan, recalling that the North American championship is currently stopped. On 21 February 2004, Bouhaddi made her senior international debut in a friendly match against Scotland as a substitute and has won 149 French caps.
She was also nominated for the 2019 Ballon d’Or after a string of stunning performances for club and country most notably against Brazil at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup
Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Dolores Gallardo is expected to be on Lyon’s radar to replace Bouhaddi.
Hashtag United To Form Women’s Team.
YouTube and Esports sensations Hashtag United have announced they are creating a Women’s team. Launched in 2016 by founder Spencer Owen Hashtag have over 1 million followers across their social media channels,
AFC Basildon Women – Essex’s most successful women’s side – will merge with them to become Hashtag United Women. They will compete in the FA Women’s National League Division 1 South East, the fourth tier of women’s football in the UK
They will also field Under-23 and U18 sides. Spencer Owen said “Our goal at Hashtag United has always been to grow the club at a controlled and steady rate with an aim of being inclusive and representational for all.
Following the 2019 Women’s World Cup I made a personal pledge to support the growth of women’s football and had been looking for the right opportunity to do so since.
“I knew the best-case scenario would be bringing a women’s team under our wing at Hashtag so I could ensure continuous support long-term. After reaching out locally to see what teams were in need of support, AFC Basildon stood out from the rest right away as a club that are not only geographically very close to our base but are also the most successful women’s team in the county. Upon meeting the committee there I felt we were on the same page in terms of what we want to achieve. They’ve done a fantastic job in getting the club to where it is and now we want to see what we can do working together.”
This is a very uncertain time for much of football right now but we hope that by committing to the growth of Hashtag United we can reassure our players, staff, volunteers, supporters, and future supporters, that we will continue to do what we are good at in giving people a thoroughly enjoyable football experience, whether they play for us, work with us, support us or watch us online.
“This move also furthers the important process of us putting down some permanent roots and providing opportunities to those in our local community, whilst simultaneously bringing more attention to the Women’s game.
They will play their home games at Canvey Island FC.
Trials for the women’s team will be held when deemed safe and potential players within the Essex/East London area are being invited to register their interest via an online form:
Athletic Young Player Of The Year Nominations Announced.
Manchester City duo Ellie Roebuck and Lauren Hemp, Bristol City’s Ebony Salmon, Manchester United’s Lauren James, Everton’s Chloe Kelly and Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert and Arsenal’s Leah Williamson have been nominated for the Athletics Young Women’s Super League Player of the year.
The winner will be announced on the Athletics Social Media channels on Sunday night.
Articly by Josh Bunting – @Buntingfootball
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