Arsenal's woes continue. City stuns Barcelona.
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WEEKLY
IN THIS WEEK’S ROUND-UP...
Picks from the pitch: Our top five WSL moments of the week
Latest headlines: Sam Kerr’s record broken. Another legend retires.
Fave finds: Saf Middleton talks about Autism
Kit drop: A fruity little number from Kappa
Jobs: New opportunities in football
Not a subscriber? Get our weekly roundup straight to your inbox
⚽ PICKS FROM THE PITCH
Our top five moments from this week’s WSL action
This week’s top pick from the pitch has to be the Bompastor x Eidevall head pat after Arsenal’s latest defeat.
But back to the action…
1. Olivia Smith grabbed her second Liverpool goal after a big defensive mix-up allowed her the space to take a shot from distance, putting them 1-0 up against City.
2. In the 92nd minute of the same game, Bunny Shaw smashed home the winner from a Hemp cross.
3. Sandy Baltimore got her head on a Lauren James cross to score her first Chelsea goal, putting them 2-0 up after 16 minutes. Foord’s brilliant individual goal wasn’t enough to ease the pressure that Eidevall is increasingly under.
4. Shae Yanez made a great save to deny Kiko Seike
5. Elisabeth Terland didn’t stop at her first goal for Man Utd but bagged a brace before being denied a hattrick by a great save from Spencer.
WSL SCOREBOARD: MATCH DAY 4
Arsenal 1 - 2 Chelsea (Highlights)
Man Utd 3 - 0 Tottenham (Highlights)
Everton 1 - 1 West Ham (Highlights)
Crystal Palace 0 - 1 Brighton (Highlights)
Aston Villa 0 - 0 Leicester City (Highlights)
Liverpool 1 - 2 Man City (Highlights)
AS IT STANDS
🚨ICYMI
Top Headlines
🏅 The Barclays WSL has named Brighton’s Kiko Seike player of the month and Chelsea’s Sonia Bompastor manager of the month in the first awards of this season.
🗓️ Jordan Nobbs is now the WSL’s all-time leading appearance-maker following her 193rd appearance during Aston Villa’s defeat against Brighton last week. She overtook Sophie Ingle, who is out with an ACL injury so Nobbs’ record should be safe for at least the next 9 months.
🧢 The Welsh FA has honoured its past players, presenting them with their ceremonial caps for the first time. The WFA managed to track down 70 of the 94 players that represented Wales between 1973 and 1993 when the WFA became officially officiated with the Welsh women’s team.
🇵🇭 Aston Villa’s Maz Pacheco has received her first call-up to the Philippine national team at the age of 26. The defender will join the squad for two friendlies during the October International window.
🎉 15,387 headed to the Stadium of Light this weekend to watch Sunderland take on Newcastle United in the first Wear-Tyne derby in Championship history, setting a new Championship attendance record in the process. It finished 2-1 to the toon. The previous record of 11,137 was set in 2022 when Sheffield took on London City Lionesses.
⚽ Sam Kerr’s reign as the NWSL’s top scorer in a single season is over. Temwa Chawinga has hit 19 goals this season, overtaking Sam Kerr (18 goals) to claim the record.
🔺 FIFA will propose that the Olympic committee expand the women’s competition from 12 to 16 teams in line with the men’s tournament as part of their ambitious plans for women’s football. The hope is that the plans will be implemented in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
🇫🇷 Former France captain Amandine Henry has retired from International football with 109 caps and 14 goals. The 35-year-old midfielder will continue to play for Mexican side Toluca.
💼 It’s been a while since former employees first made accusations against San Diego Wave FC and Jill Ellis. It came on the back of Casey Stoney’s shock sacking and the discussions about club management which followed. Well, five ex-employees of San Diego Wave have sued the club and NWSL, alleging discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination. The lawsuit claims the club fostered a hostile work environment and that the NWSL failed to properly investigate complaints. Both organisations have declined to comment further.
📚 WHAT WE’RE READING
Top Links
🏆 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Fresh. Hammered. Sloppy.
Well, the first round of Champion’s League group games are out of the way and it can only be described as a very mixed bag.
Fresh: Manchester City 2 - 0 Barcelona (Highlights)
A fresh-looking Manchester City took the game to Barcelona. Naomi Layzell scored her first senior club goal in City’s 2-0 win, putting in a great defensive shift as well as finding time to score. Hemp did a job containing Graham Hanson(?). The lack of competition week to week in La Liga Femenina is telling for Barcelona who didn’t seem to know how to play against a physically strong team and were nowhere near containing Bunny Shaw all night.
Hammered: Bayern Munich 5 - 2 Arsenal (Highlights)
To summarise the general sentiment of reporters and analysts alike, Arsenal were a hard watch. Again. Things weren’t going too badly initially, but a 13-minute Pernille Harder Hattrick showed the frailty of the Arsenal defence and left everyone asking one big question. How long will Eidevall last? Let’s just say that we’re off to the shop for a lettuce.
Sloppy: Chelsea 3 - 2 Real Madrid (Highlights)
You’d think five goals would make a match exciting. Wrong. Although Chelsea saw the game out comfortably, defensive sloppiness and lack of desire were the themes of the night. Real Madrid seemed out of ideas which when added to the mix made for a long old watch.
👀 FAVE FINDS
Bayern documentary series is a hit
Bayern Munich’s six-part documentary, More than 90 Minutes, follows the team over 100 days of filming last season. It’s mainly in English with some subtitles for German bits. New episodes are released on YouTube every Thursday. Watch episode one here.
Saf Middleton, Manchester United goalkeeper (on loan at Watford) shares regularly about her autism diagnosis and how she’s learned to manage it. She explains some of the things she does to avoid overstimulation, keep anxiety at bay and generally feel more happy and healthy.
👀 Ever wondered how a football is made? Yeah, us neither… but it is pretty cool. Watch here.
📊 STATS
Moving from the FA Player to YouTube has already proven to be a big success in increasing the visibility of the WSL and match views.
Last season the highest-viewed game, Arsenal vs Brighton attracted 78,050 views on the FA Player. This season, Arsenal’s game against Leicester hit 148,000 views, Manchester United vs West Ham 184,400, and Chelsea vs Arsenal 343,400.
The channel already has over 4 million views.
🧠 QUIZ
Who has just become the youngest-ever Women’s Champions League coach?
(Answer at bottom of email)
👟 KIT DROP
Pink October for Breast Cancer Awareness
Bayern Munich, Adidas and LeGer by Lena Gercke have created a special edition shirt to support Pink October and raise awareness about Breast Cancer. The collection also features a small heart made from the colour blocks of the main jersey and is available to buy now.
Equipo FC x AC SAEN SAEP: Creative football collective, Equipo, has teamed up with Kappa and Bangkok-based club, Athletic Club Saen Saep to create the Frutas Equipo FC collection. Available now
🩼 ACL WATCH
Latest injury updates
Sofie Lundgaard is the latest player to suffer an ACL injury. The Liverpool midfielder sustained the injury during the game against Spurs. There are now 18 players recovering from ACL ruptures in the WSL, four of which have happened since the summer.
In the NWSL, Andi Sullivan tore her ACL which means she’s out for the rest of the season. It happened during Washington Spirit’s game against Orlando Pride.
🛋️ DITCH THE SOFA
Upcoming events
Relive the Lionesses vs Germany Euro 2022 Final at Wembley
England’s international friendlies are just a few weeks away and tickets are still available.
England vs Germany
Friday 25 October, 19.30 KO, Wembley.
Get tickets here
Is there a women’s football event happening near you? Give us a heads-up.
📺 WEEKLY WATCHLIST
What We’re Watching
Champions League Group Stages: Match Day 2
Wednesday 16 October
17:45 - St Polten vs Manchester City [DAZN]
20:00 - Arsenal vs Valerenga [TNT Sports 1, DAZN]
20:00 - Barcelona vs Hammarby [DAZN]
Thursday 17 October
17:45 - Real Madrid vs Celtic [DAZN]
20:00 - FC Twente vs Chelsea [DAZN]
20:00 - Wolfsburg v Lyon [DAZN]
Watch the Champions League for free on the DAZN app or the Youtube channel.
WSL: Match Day 5
Saturday 19 October
12:30 - Brighton vs Manchester United [Sky Sports]
Sunday 20 October
12:15 - Manchester City vs Aston Villa [YouTube]
14:00 - Liverpool vs Crystal Palace [YouTube]
15:00 - Leicester City vs Everton [YouTube]
15:00 - West Ham vs Arsenal [YouTube]
18:45 - Chelsea vs Tottenham [Sky Sports]
The Women’s Football Show
Sunday 13 October, 22:00 [BBC 1, iPlayer]
Top Tip: You can watch any WSL game not scheduled for Sky or BBC broadcast on the new WSL YouTube channel
📂 JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
More Women Working in Football
Motion Graphics Designer | Brighton and Hove Albion | Apply by 17 October
Lead Emerging Talent Scout | Brentford | Apply by 22 October
WPL Ltd Financial Controller | Women's Professional Game | The FA | Apply by 25 October
Music Supervisor, Premier League Productions | IMG Studios | Apply by 17 October
Head of Performance Science - Women’s | Chelsea FC | Apply by 23 October
🧠 QUIZ ANSWER:
30-year-old Elena Sadiku, Head coach of Celtic. She has an amazing story, involving a lot of ACL surgeries.
Tell us how we're doing...How was today's newsletter? |
P.S. If you know a WSL fan who’d love to read this email, please forward this one on or share a link :)
More women watching, playing and working in football