WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WEEKLY
The five-minute read for dedicated-ish fans of women’s football.
This week: Bunny Shaw scored the fastest hat-trick in WSL history, a new FIFA coaching rule has split the internet, plus the international kit drops everyone's been talking about.
– Jo, founder of Twentytwo
⚽ PICKS FROM THE PITCH
Shaw breaks 12-year record. The race for Europe is on.
Shaw scores her third goal for City. Credit: Cody Froggatt, PA Images
Bunny Shaw scored the fastest hat-trick in WSL history on Saturday — 12 minutes and 37 seconds, smashing Kelly Smith's 16-minute, 2014 record. City beat Spurs 5-2 and are eight points clear with four games left. The title's almost guaranteed to be going to Manchester now.
Behind City, things got interesting. United were 90 minutes away from dropping points against Everton before Malard stuck one in at 90+4 to nick it. Chelsea dropped points at London City — Goodwin headed home with eight minutes left to cancel out Rytting Kaneryd's first-half goal. Arsenal, two points off third with two games in hand, are quietly the most interesting team in the top four right now. The European places are up for grabs and it's genuinely anyone's guess how this ends.
TOP STRIKES & SAVES
Alessia Russo — lesson: never give Russo space in the box
Isobel Goodwin — a late but deserved equaliser for LCL
Beth Mead — strolled through West Ham’s defence to make it five
🎥 Watch this if you only click one thing: Shaw’s snappy hat-trick
RESULTS: WSL MATCHDAY 18
Arsenal 5–0 West Ham (Highlights)
London City Lionesses 1–1 Chelsea (Highlights)
Manchester City 5–2 Tottenham (Highlights)
Manchester United 2–1 Everton (Highlights)
Brighton 0–0 Liverpool (Highlights)
Leicester 1–2 Aston Villa (Highlights)
AS IT STANDS
🚨ICYMI
Top Headlines
🏆 Japan are Asian Cup champions. Tottenham's Maika Hamano scored the only goal in the 17th minute as Japan beat Australia 1-0 at a sold-out Stadium Australia. The tournament doubled as World Cup qualification — Japan, Australia, China, South Korea, North Korea and the Philippines are all going to Brazil 2027 Read more
🏆 England's Deaf Women's team are European champions, winning the European Deaf Futsal Championship last week. Watch the celebrations
⚖️ FIFA has ruled that all women's teams at its tournaments must have a female head coach or assistant coach on the bench, effective from later this year. At least two women must be on the bench overall. The reaction online was immediate and split — more on that below in In Focus. Read more
⚽ World Sevens is coming to London. The fast-paced, small-sided competition that had everyone talking last year — remember United's goal celebrations? — is heading to Brentford's Community Stadium for its next edition. Not quite Miami. Not quite Lisbon. Costa del Brentford has a ring to it though. Read more
📚 WHAT WE’RE READING
→ Khadija 'Bunny' Shaw is the best women's striker in world football — The Athletic via Yahoo. Less about the hat-trick record, more about how she does it — the body mechanics, the pressing, the positioning.
→ Emily Fox: ‘When you have the trophy, everyone wants to beat you’ — The Observer. Arsenal’s right-back on being American, and competitive.
→ Phallon Tullis-Joyce and the Komodo dragons — The Athletic via Yahoo. United's goalkeeper has to be one of the most interesting footballers away from the pitch.
🔍 IN FOCUS
More women on the bench. Will it make a difference?
FIFA ruled last week that every women's team at its tournaments must have at least one female head or assistant coach on the bench — along with a second female bench official and a female medical professional. It covers all competitions from later this year, including national teams and clubs, at youth and senior level. It sounds straightforward enough. Whether it actually moves the needle is where things get complicated.
What people are saying
The numbers behind the rule are stark: women held 7% of coaching positions across FIFA's member associations in 2019 — by 2023 that had dropped to 5%, even as the women's game grew. At the 2023 World Cup, Sarina Wiegman was the only female coach left in the quarter-finals.
Wherever quotas get mandated, the pushback tends to follow the same lines: positive discrimination, box-ticking, appointing someone for the wrong reasons. This rule is no different — plenty of people online have made exactly that argument.
Our take
The box-ticking concern is real — but it's also a bit of a red herring. Plenty of national teams are already ahead of this: the US, England, Norway and others have top female talent in their backroom setups already. For them, nothing changes.
The rule matters most for the teams that haven't been thinking about it at all — and there are plenty of those. For some, it will be a box to tick. For others, it might be the nudge that makes it a genuine priority for the first time. Either way, the underlying problem is the same: the pathways to get to the top level of coaching have never been properly built.
A UEFA A-Licence costs around £6,250 — a genuine barrier for coaches who've spent careers in a historically underpaid game. And if you never see women on the touchline at major tournaments, why would you think it's a role for you?
Mandating a presence on the bench doesn't fix all of that overnight. But it makes it impossible to ignore.
✍️ INSIDE TRACK
Transfer Round-up
Chelsea are facing a big summer. Sam Kerr and Millie Bright are both expected to leave when their contracts expire in June. NWSL clubs are in the mix for Kerr; Bright has reportedly turned down a new deal. Hampton, Bronze and Beever-Jones are also out of contract.
Shaw's future at City is worth watching — she's out of contract this summer too, with Chelsea linked, though there are also reports she could extend with City.
Cat Macario has signed a record NWSL deal with San Diego Wave — reported to be worth £8 million, and the largest contract in the league's history.
Lia Wälti has been linked with a WSL return when her Juventus contract expires this summer.
👟 KIT DROP
The international kit cycle is in full swing ahead of the Men's World Cup, so expect to see some fresh looks at the next women's international window in April.
Adidas’s trefoil is back on a World Cup kit for the first time in 36 years and it makes every shirt feel like an instant classic. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland got some of the best-looking shirts in the drop. South Africa and Germany also deserve a special mention. Get yours here
Nike went template heavy, opting to rely subtle patterns and textures to do the heavy lifting across the board. England and France are probably the pick of the bunch. Shop the collection
🛋️ DITCH THE SOFA
Upcoming Events
Baller FC presents: Derby Day The Rivals
Saturday 28 March, Victoria Tavern, N7 8DL (10 mins walk from Emirates)
A back-to-back afternoon of WSL derbies featuring: Everton vs Liverpool (12:00 KO), City vs United (13:30 KO), and Arsenal vs Tottenham (17:30 KO). The North London Derby After Party starts at 19:30. More info
Women's Football Fair 3
Sunday 17 May · 11am–4pm · Big Penny Social, London, E17 6AL
A day of football, community and good vibes — fans, culture, and loads of stalls from small women's football businesses. Get tickets
Is there a women’s football event happening near you? Give us a heads-up
📺 WEEKLY WATCHLIST
What We’re Watching
Your what-not-to-miss viewing guide (GMT/BST)
UWCL Quarter-Finals — First Legs
Tuesday 24 March, 20:00 — Arsenal vs Chelsea · BBC Two / Disney+
Wednesday 25 March, 20:00 — Manchester United vs Bayern Munich · Disney+ / ESPN YouTube
WSL Matchday 19
Saturday 28 March
12:00 — Everton vs Liverpool · Sky Sports
13:30 — Manchester United vs Manchester City · BBC One
17:30 — Arsenal vs Tottenham · Sky Sports
Sunday 29 March
12:00 — Chelsea vs Aston Villa · Sky Sports
12:00 — West Ham vs London City Lionesses · Sky Sports / WSL YouTube
15:00 — Leicester vs Brighton · Sky Sports / WSL YouTube
WSL2 promotion battle starts heating up…
Sunday 29 March, 14:00 · WSL2 YouTube — five points separate 2nd to 5th. Crystal Palace host Charlton (league leaders), Bristol City take on Birmingham, and Sunderland face Newcastle in the Tyne & Wear derby.
👀 FAVE FINDS
Australia lost the Asian Cup final to Japan on Saturday. Their coach Nils Nielsen then held a press conference involving bees, flies, honey and sh*t — best just watch it.
Before the final, he'd spent an interview heaping praise on Australia. Quite sweet really, but also kind of bizarre by most press-conference standards!
See you next week!
👋 Not a subscriber? → Join for free
👀 Follow us on Instagram
✍️ Take our subscriber survey
📮 Tell us what you think of Twentytwo → [email protected]
