The Women’s Super League season is almost certain to be cancelled, according to a report in the Independent from Miguel Delaney. No WSL games have been played since 23rd February due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an international break in early March, but it looks as though the clubs and the FA will decide not to try and play out the season.
The pressure for broadcast money is not as pressing an issue in the WSL, where BT Sport and the BBC only pay costs to show live games currently. The resources required for mass testing of players are also harder to come by for most clubs. Reading Women, for example, have been furloughed and bringing them out of furlough for behind closed doors matches would surely not make economic sense for them.
The women’s football calendar looks very congested over the next few seasons due to the postponement of the summer Olympics, with Japan 2021, the Euros in England in 2022, the World Cup in 2023, another Olympic tournament in 2024 and another Euros in 2025. Focus on making 2020-21 as “normal” as possible is an understandable priority.
According to the Independent, the decision to curtail games for the 2019-20 season is “an inevitability” with the method for finalising the table now to be discussed. Arsenal are in a delicate position in 3rd place, outside of the two Champions League qualifying spots, but only 4 points behind leaders Manchester City with a game in hand. If the table were to be decided by points per game, Montemurro’s side would finish in 3rd place in the table behind Manchester City and Chelsea.
Arsenal were also due to play an FA Cup quarter-final against Spurs in March and a Champions League quarter-final tie with Paris Saint Germain. A decision is still to be made on how the Champions League will be settled, but with football prohibited in France until September 1st, it seems very unlikely that tie will go ahead. The decision to cancel the WSL follows on from League 2 clubs deciding to cancel their own season earlier on Friday.
So at the end is about money and not about football
Surprised?
No, not at all, and that’s the saddest thing. Just money, not football or health. Sad state of affairs.
Yup! that is the only reason the FA are so insistent that they will complete the Premier League. No concern for players welfare, coaching and ground staff, etc. Providing they do not have to forfeit the TV money it’s fine to continue!
We have discussed before that WSL is the way football should be and knocking this season on the head is the most sensible approach.
3 million kids die of hunger every year, and most people don’t care. Everything is about money and greed, and it will never end.
Will be a massive loss if we lose out on champions league due to this but it is what it is
Probably PPG would be the “fairest” way to decide the league table, but we are the ones who are absolutely getting shafted by this. City would still have to play United away, we have much easier fixture list. And we are still in the CL this season. I would just hope that Arsenal will make the right conclusions from this season and lets go again in the next one. Who knows what CL will look like next season anyway.
Depends on how they end this season. What does “cancelled” mean? If the season is “void” then it never happened and we play 2020/2021 as if it were 2019/2020. Then, if a result must be declared for whatever reason, I’m not sure points per game is fair when you have Birmingham, for example, having played three games less than the leaders and as you say some teams have, on paper, easier matches outstanding than the ones they have already played. Arsenal have played both City and Chelsea twice other teams haven’t so our PPG will take a huge tumble because… Read more »
For me, void means that it never happened .. goes in the record books same way as the 1993 Grand National.
If they end the season, including Champions League, then Arsenal may be shafted out of its Champions League opportunity. The Gunners are not top two at the moment and so would not be in the competition next year. Seems unfair to all the CL competitors this year. If this year’s CL is canceled, a fair solution, it seems to me, would be for FIFA to pick up this year’s CL competition next year and ignore league standings this year–because this season was still a long way from finished and thus one can’t make assumptions about how it would have played… Read more »
I think fair result and good result for the league season is not possible anyway. It is possible to make the least bad decision. I personally don’t want league to be voided, even if it means that we are the ones out of top teams who get shafted the most. For me, it is unfair to players. Viv would lose the 6 goals, 4 assists, Kim and Jordan would lose their 200 games, and so on. Games were played and they should mean something. I think that we were better team than ManC this year, but that for me doesn’t… Read more »
Against the backdrop of the pandemic most rational thinkers could see this coming for some time now. Whatever way it is decided to settle the WSL will leave someone unhappy. For AWFC to finish third is where our results against Chelski and MankC warrant. The sloppy goals conceded in Manchester and chances missed in that game proving to be crucial. Chelski have won the title because neither us or the Manks have beaten them. WCL qualification for next season is something else to be argued about once a final decision is made on this year’s competition. It can’t be beyond… Read more »
In theory it should be possible to play CL conclusions for both mens and womens game in somekind on tournament format during week or a two in realtively safe place. Same time in France, UK, Spain teams are not in training yet. So in reality only Wolfsburg and Bayern are in any condition to be able to play in for example months time. And if one argument to cancel this season is coming summers, than continuing this season for Arsenal to June/July for potentially 2 and maximum 5 games, makes that argument void. It would be fair for players to… Read more »
Season defo won’t be voided, there will be a conclusion. Most likely PPG, though they could do “weighted PPG” [based on points home and away], but either way I think Arsenal end up 3rd.