⚽ Man Utd Mayhem. Kang Goes Big. Reading Collapse.
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WEEKLY
In this week's round-up...
Big ambitions for London City Lionesses
Latest headlines: Manchester United mayhem, Reading collapse, and Stoney sacked
Fave Finds: Adidas Predator x Balenciaga
Kit Drop: Mexico hand-embroidered
Transfer news: Bronze, Earps, Zelem and Asslani moves
Jobs: New opportunities in football
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🔍 IN FOCUS
London City Lionesses Mean Business
Image: Wing Chong
Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses (LCL) declared their intention to become the biggest club in English women’s football with some serious announcements this week.
First things first, who is Michele Kang?
Kang is a businesswoman who owns three clubs in three leagues: the NWSL’s Washington Spirit, French team Lyon and Championship side, London City Lionesses (a deal that was completed in December 2023).
With the economics of women’s football still in their infancy, Kang sees multi-club ownership as the best way to develop women’s football. It allows a centralised approach to investment in female-focussed training programmes, medical research and analysis which can then be shared across clubs.
So what were the announcements?
Jocelyn Prêcheur was named head coach. He was previously coach of Paris Saint-Germain
Swedish International Kosovare Asllani was announced as the first major summer signing, with a further six expected in the coming weeks.
LCL plans to develop top-class facilities for its first team and academy after acquiring a 23-acre training ground in Aylesford, Kent.
LCL has partnered with Bromley FC and will play their games at 5,000 seater stadium, Hayes Lane.
Kang on her ambition for LCL
"We had to work on from the players to head coach, staff and training centre and the stadium. To be the best football team in England we need the best players, and we have worked very hard to recruit players that would help us not only get promoted but to stay up, and have the aspiration to win the WSL trophy.
Our goal is to make every team (Lyon, Spirit and the Lionesses) the champion in each of the leagues. We're going to do everything in our power to be the champion in the WSL."
🚨ICYMI
Top Headlines
🇬🇧 HOME
👹 Manchester United have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this week. Sir Jim Ratcliffe had barely finished admitting plans for the women’s team were ‘TBC’, before news broke of the men’s team taking over the women’s new facilities while theirs are upgraded. The women would be essentially deprioritised and moved to portable buildings for the season.
Then there were the player announcements with four senior players announcing their departure. Lucía García, Mary Earps, Nikita Parris, and club captain, Katie Zelem are all on their way out.
The PFA[JB] has reportedly approached Manchester United to discuss how the women’s team is being handled.
❌ After weeks of uncertainty, Reading has withdrawn from the Championship and announced their academy will close after the takeover of the club fell through. The club will move to tier five of the women’s pyramid, pending agreement from the FA. The Championship will operate with 11 instead of 12 teams in 2024/25, the FA says it’s too late for another team to go through the licensing process.
🦘Manchester City, Leicester City, West Ham United and Paris Saint-Germain will travel to Australia in August for the inaugural Perth International Football Cup as part of their pre-season preparations.
Manchester City vs Leicester City - Wednesday 28 August, HBF Park
West Ham United v Paris Saint-Germain - Thursday 29 August, HBF Park
Double header, Sunday 1 September, Optus Stadium: Third place play-off, followed by the Final.
🌎 AWAY
📢 There were two big surprise announcements in the NWSL this week. Casey Stoney was sacked as Manager of San Diego Wave and then Lucy Rushton resigned as Bay FC General Manager
Stoney was perhaps the biggest shock, having signed a contract extension in January which would have taken her through to 2027. Having won the 2023 NWSL Shield (award for the team with the best domestic record), and the 2024 Challenge Cup in the preseason, the Wave has had a disappointing season so far, their seven-game run without a win seems to have been what pushed the clubs’ management to take action.
Rushton was halfway through Bay FC’s inaugural season and had made a statement in pre-season, bringing in players such as Racheal Kundananji and Asisat Oshoala. The team are currently in 11th position, with 5 wins, 0 draws and 9 losses.
🇺🇸 Emma Hayes made her Olympic squad announcement, which was largely met with praise, although there was one big name missing from the roster… Alex Morgan. Fans had a mixed reaction, some seeing it as a mistake to leave the experienced forward at home, others acknowledged her contribution and record but were happy to see some new faces in the squad. Either way, it certainly seems to be the end of the (almost) 35-year-old’s Olympic career.
🇪🇸 💪 Patri Guijarro (Barcelona), has made herself available for Spain after two years of self-imposed exile. Patri, Mapi León, and Claudia Pina were the last three Spanish players to hold out and refuse to play for Spain under former coach Jorge Vilda. Now it seems the Spanish federation has done enough for Patri and Claudia Pina to reconsider their position, although for now, Mapi remains unchanged.
👋 Hervé Renard has confirmed he will step down as the head coach of France following this year’s Olympics.
🇫🇷 The French women’s leagues D1 Feminine and D2 Feminine have been rebranded and from September they’ll be known as the Premiere Ligue and Seconde Ligue.
🇳🇿 Jitka Klimkova, New Zealand’s head coach, has stepped down just four weeks from the Olympics. The current assistant coach, Michael Mayne, will take over for the interim.
🫰 LIMITED TIME OFFER
The Women’s Game: 25% Discount
To celebrate this summer’s Olympics, Rich Laverty (women’s football writer and friend of Twentytwo) has a limited offer on his substack, The Women’s Game.
Subscribers will get 12 months’ worth of unique, in-depth and insightful content for just £33.75 instead of £45.
👉 Get the offer while it lasts
👀 FAVE FINDS
Scottish defender Jen Beattie features in the latest episode of the BBC’s Icons of Football. The 30-minute episode follows her story, from captaining her local boys’ team as a youth to winning major titles with Arsenal and Manchester City, battling breast cancer and representing Scotland at the 2019 World Cup.
Fashion meets football: The surgeon swapped a predator football boot with a Balenciaga outsole for this custom look.
WHAT WE’RE READING…
✍️ INSIDE TRACK
Transfer Round-up
Juventus are chasing down the signature of Everton’s Hanna Bennison. The midfielder was signed in 2021 as an 18-year-old for around £150,000. She still has a year on her contract, so the club will be keen to recoup its investment. Meanwhile, Everton are said to be finalising a deal which would see Nigeria’s Toni Payne and Spain’s Inma Gabarro move to Walton Hall Park[JB] from Sevilla.
Lucy Bronze’s contract has not been renewed by Barcelona and Chelsea is being touted as favourite to sign the right-back. Bronze sent Barca fans an emotional goodbye message (you’ll have to get your Spanish GCSE out to listen in).
CONFIRMED TRANSFERS & EXTENSIONS
Sydney Schertenleib: Grasshopper Club Zürich → Barcelona
Valentina Bergamaschi: AC Milan → Juventus
Amanda Nildén: Juventus → Tottenham Hotspur
Emma Koivisto: Liverpool → AC Milan
Kenti Robles: Real Madrid → CF Pachuca (Liga MX[JB])
Lucía García: Manchester United → Rayadas de Monterrey (Liga MX)
Ivana Andrés: Real Madrid → Inter Milan
Nikola Karczewska: Tottenham Hotspur → AC Milan
Barbara Bonansea: Signs new contract with Juventus
CONFIRMED DEPARTURES
Manchester United: Nikita Parris, Mary Earps, Katie Zelem
West Ham are having a clearout: Mackenzie Arnold, Hawa Cissoko, Honoka Hayashi, Risa Shimizu, Emma Snerle and Abbey-Leigh Stringer
MANAGER MOVES
Dutchman, Robert de Pauw has been appointed head coach of Aston Villa. He moves from the Bundesliga’s Bayer Leverkusen on a three-year deal to replace Carla Ward
Inter Milan have announced the departure of Head coach Rita Guarino
ELSEWHERE… THE RUMOURS ARE FLYING
😂 MEME OF THE WEEK
Sam Kerr Reacts to Arnold’s West Ham Announcement
👟 KIT DROP
Threads of Mexico
Adidas released Mexico’s new kit in collaboration with Someone Somewhere (an organisation aiming to lift artisans and industrial workers out of poverty). The textile artisans customised home and away shirts with designs from Mexico’s cultural heritage to create incredible results.
Man Utd launched their 2024/25 home kit today. It takes inspiration from the reflective jerseys the Busby Babes experimented with to be seen better under floodlights in the 1950s. This modern take has a light-to-dark red gradient with bright red panels on the sides, a first for a Man Utd kit.
📂 JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
More Women Working in Football
📚 JARGON BUSTER
Walton Hall Park: The home ground of the Everton Women’s team
Liga MX: is the top professional division in Mexico
PFA: Professional Footballers' Association
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