Transfer Window Count Down: Will Kelly, Girma and Walsh Make Moves?

December 30, 2024

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WEEKLY

As we come to the end of 2024, I wanted to say thanks to each of you for reading our Women’s Football round-up every week. We’ve seen consistently high engagement, so hopefully, we’re doing something right! 

We’re a tiny self-funded team with big ideas for the future of women’s football and Twentytwo. This year has been about building consistency and our community. 2025 is when we’ll push out and start developing new ways to support the women’s football community with products and content.

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Thanks again for reading and have a fantastic 2025,

Jo

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🚨ICYMI

Top Headlines

🏆 England’s chances of winning back-to-back EURO Championships is just 9.6% according to Oddspedia’s supercomputer. It gave Spain a 39.8% chance of taking the title although you probably didn’t need the supercomputer to tell you that.

📺 The BBC and ITV will split broadcasting rights for Euro 2025. It’s never too early to plan your viewing schedule, check out the listings here.

🏟️ BOS Nation FC has signed the lease and picked up the keys to make White Stadium their home ground ahead of their 2026 NWSL debut. The 10-year agreement includes major investment in the stadium and local community projects.

🇨🇦 Canada’s Northern Super League kicks off its first season in Spring 2025. Here’s a quick round-up of the clubs and their recruitment so far.

📚 WHAT WE’RE READING

Stories we enjoyed this week

🤯 KNOWLEDGE

Quick guide: Women’s Champions League revamp (+ new Europa League)

Next season the Women’s Champions League will look a little different and the Europa League will make its women’s game debut. Here’s what you need to know…

How will the Women’s Champions League change?

  • The biggest change is the expanded 18-team league phase that replaces the group stage format.

  • Teams will play six matches against six teams (three home, three away). Opponents will be chosen via a draw, where teams are seeded based on rankings.

  • The teams finishing top four in the league will automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, those placed 5-12th compete in two-legged play-off games for the remaining places. Everyone else is eliminated, and the competition continues through the knockout phases as before.

Why change the format of the Women’s Champions League?

Let’s be honest, the Champions League isn’t super competitive at the group stages. You can spot the quarter-finalists a mile off. UEFA hopes this new format will create fast-changing, unpredictable league standings, better-balanced matches and more top-team clashes each match day. Every game counts in a league format so the competitiveness should also increase.

What is the new Women’s Europa Cup?

  • It’s basically a second-tier to the Champions League. The new competition creates opportunities for more clubs to compete at European level in a purely knock-out format.

  • Each round is played over two legs, all the way to, and including, the final.

Who qualifies for each league?

  • Champions League: The first nine spots are taken by the previous season’s Champions League winners, the winners of the top-six domestic leagues, and runners-up from the top two. The remaining places are secured via the qualifying path.

  • Europa League: 13 teams (runners-up of associations ranked 8-24 and third place of those 8-13) will qualify via their national league. 31 teams knocked out of rounds one and two of the Champions League will qualify via a feeding system.

👀 FAVE FINDS

Wedding season

NWSL off-season means woso[JB] wedding season, and it’s kicked off in style with two Christmas celebrations. San Diego Wave and Matilda’s midfielder, Emily Van Egmond, married partner Kat Thompson in Aus, while USWNT legend, Lyndsey Horan married Tyler Heaps.

Image credit: Caitlin Foord and Sam Kerr

✍️ INSIDE TRACK

What could we expect from the January transfer window?

Girma | Walsh | Kelly

The January transfer window can’t come soon enough for the WSL clubs hit by lengthy injury lists, but navigating the window isn’t straightforward.

When does the window open?
Wednesday, 1 January until 11pm on Thursday, 30 Jan.

Why might clubs struggle in the January window?
Clubs have the challenge of replacing any players they sell within such a small window of opportunity it can get very tricky. There are also some big players coming to the end of their contracts and will be available on free transfers this summer so clubs might be inclined to hold out until the end of the season and save themselves some cash. It all adds up to a bit of a chess game where clubs will do their best to reinforce their ranks without overpaying.

Could we see some big moves?
The good news for the WSL is that leagues like the NWSL are off-season so there could be some deals to be done. Here are three transfers that could be on the cards:

  • Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave) is under contract until 2026, but the centre-back would be a prime target for anyone looking to build a world-class defence. It would also be a perfect time to implement an escape plan if she wanted to avoid the Wave’s Eidevall era.

  • Keira Walsh (Barcelona) is out of contract in the summer and has already told Barca she doesn’t want to renew. Will they want to recoup some of her £400k fee, or let her go for free? We wouldn’t be surprised to see Arsenal back for a second transfer attempt, and they’d probably get her for a lot less than the £930k they offered last summer.

  • Chloe Kelly (Manchester City) needs minutes. She’s not going to get them at City and there are questions about her place in England’s Euro 2025 squad without them, despite the credit she has in the bank. It won’t be a surprise when she leaves City, but since she’s out of contract in the summer, clubs could wait it out for a free transfer which might come a bit too late for her international aspirations.

  • Players such as Ingrid Engen (Barcelona), Jule Brand (Wolfsburg) and Sveindis Jane Jonsdottir (Wolfsburg) are also out of contract in the summer, so we’ll be keeping an eye on them too.

CONFIRMED TRANSFERS:

Yazmeen Ryan | Forward | NJ/NY Gotham → Houston Dash | $400k | Read more

Jonas Eidevall is set to become San Diego Wave’s next head coach. Multiple sources confirmed the appointment, although it’s yet to be announced officially. Let’s just say the news has raised a few eyebrows.

Irene Fuhrmann has left her role as Austria's head coach by mutual agreement after Austria failed to qualify for Euro 2025. Fuhrmann recently said there needs to be more investment from the Austrian Football Federation to remain competitive with other nations.

👟 KIT DROP

Best 2024 kit picks hitting the sales

We’ve scoured the sales so you don’t have to. Here are some of our top finds:

SHIRTS & JACKETS:
FOOTBALL BOOTS:
🛋️ ACL WATCH + INJURY UPDATES

Lena Oberdorf on her ACL recovery and dealing with online abuse.

Lena Oberdorf has spoken about how hard the last year has been as she’s dealt with the hate-filled reaction to her move from VfL Wolfsburg to Bayern Munich, then an ACL injury and a missed Olympics.

On the ACL injury: “I believe it has been my toughest year so far… I am currently experiencing this process in extremes. Simply because football has completely fallen away from me."

On the social media comments she received: "How terrible is it that this seems to be part of the package? That has shocked me the most. Why must male and female footballers endure hate comments and even death threats? Anyone who thinks that this is part of the business is completely wrong. Such behaviour is never acceptable for anyone."

📺 WATCHLIST

New year football

📂 JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

More Women Working in Football

🧠 JARGON BUSTER:

WOSO - Women’s Soccer. Usually used in the USA.

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