Perfect Chelsea Run Ends. Everton Shock Win Over City.

December 16, 2024

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL WEEKLY

IN THIS WEEK’S ROUND-UP...

Picks from the pitch: Our top five WSL moments of the week
Latest headlines: Ratcliffe admits Manchester United Women “Girls” not the “main issue”
Fave finds: Esme Morgan Charity Raffle. New Predator documentary
Kit drop: Christmas Cracker + Total90 reissue
What we’re watching: Our pick of the week’s upcoming matches
Jobs: New opportunities in football

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⚽ PICKS FROM THE PITCH

Our top five moments from this week’s WSL action

Missy Goodwin with the goal that ended Chelsea’s winning streak
Alessia Russo’s goal rush continues - sixth WSL goal in five games
Marisa Olislagers stunned Spurs with this equaliser for Brighton
Kena Dali kept her head and finished after carrying the ball from halfway
Lucy Hope kicked off Everton’s shock win over Man City

WSL SCOREBOARD: MATCH DAY 10

Leicester City 1-1 Chelsea (Highlights)
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Highlights)
Everton 2-1 Manchester City (Highlights)
Aston Villa 3-1 West Ham United (Highlights)
Crystal Palace 0-1 Manchester United (Highlights)
Liverpool 0-1 Arsenal (Highlights)

AS IT STANDS

👀 MEANWHILE, IN OTHER COMPETITIONS…

Women's League Cup
Durham is the only non-WSL team to qualify for the League Cup Quarter Finals after the final game of the group stages. Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea enter the competition at this stage, qualifying automatically because they progressed in the Champions League.

Quarter-final matches will take place on 22 January 2025, times TBD. The draw was made earlier today:

Chelsea vs Durham
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United
Manchester United vs Manchester City
Brighton vs Arsenal

Champions League Group Stage - Match 5 of 6
Chelsea 6-1 FC Twente (Highlights)
Valerenga 1-3 Arsenal (Highlights)
Manchester City 2-0 St Polten (Highlights)

The eight quarter-finalists are confirmed. All three English teams went through, Chelsea and City won their groups while Arsenal came a close second to Bayern Munich. They’re joined by Barcelona, Lyon, Real Madrid and Wolfsburg.

🚨ICYMI

Top Headlines

👹 Manchester United are back in the headlines this week after their sporting director, and women’s team ally, Dan Ashworth left after only 5 months, and club co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirmed the men’s team is the “main issue”. Ratcliffe went on to refer to the women’s team as “girls” and “an opportunity”, which fans have interpreted as an insult and indication that no one at board level cares about the women’s team.

🗓️ Dates for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027 are out. Put the 24 June to 25 July in your diary folks. Ok, we’re going to put it out there… bets on Marta coming back from international retirement in 2027 for the Mexico World Cup? 👀

🇺🇸🇧🇷 The USWNT will play Brazil in friendly rematches of the Olympic Gold Medal Final. The games will be played in April, in LA and San Jose.

🎓 Sarina Weigman donned her robes this week to receive an honorary degree from Loughborough University in recognition of her contribution to women’s football.

📈 Women’s football attendance in the UK has grown 38% year-on-year, surpassing Rugby League and Cricket attendance for the first time. The WSL saw a 32% increase and the Championship 71%. In Europe, average attendance across the top four leagues in England, Germany, Spain and France rose by 24% during the 2023-24 season.

📚 WHAT WE’RE READING

UEFA Women’s EURO 2025: Group draw and ticket information

The Euro 2025 groups will be drawn today (16 December) at 17:00 GMT (Watch live here). Following the draw, an allocation of group-stage tickets will be available to national team fanbases from 11:00, Tuesday 17 December until 11:00 Friday 17 January via the UEFA platform. These will be available to fans with an access code, on a first-come-first-served basis. England was oversubscribed, so it held an access code ballot, the codes were sent out to successful fans. The other qualifying home nation, Wales, has emailed codes to registered members who have recently bought tickets.

Tickets will be available via the UEFA ticketing portal. You will need an account, which we’d advise you to set up ahead of the ticket window opening.

👀 FAVE FINDS

The untold story of the Predator boot

Adidas x Soccerbible release 'Under The Tongue': The Untold Story Of Football's Most Iconic Boot. The documentary coincides with the launch of the new Adidas Predator and looks back at the innovation, culture and design that made this a classic. Watch on youtube

Esme Morgan is running a charity raffle to raise funds for specialist equipment used in ACL reconstruction surgery for children and young people. Prizes include a Lionesses shirt signed by the entire team. Get your raffle tickets here
Gotham FC’s Ali Krieger and Midge Purce took on a bunch of kids and… (spoiler alert) beat them. Watch the Celebrity Substitutes episode here.

✍️ INSIDE TRACK

Manager moves

Robert de Pauw has left Aston Villa after only six months in charge. It’s been reported that he allegedly made unprofessional comments, some about appearance, to his players. De Pauw has hit back against some of the reporting in the press, saying he would ‘never make comments about players appearances’.

Eileen Gleeson, Head Coach of the Republic of Ireland will not be offered a new contract after Ireland failed to qualify for the 2025 EUROs.

Pedro Martínez Losa will not continue as Scotland’s head coach after they lost their EURO 2025 playoff matches and failed to qualify. He had been given a contract to see out the 2027 World Cup but that has been cut short.

Nils Nielsen has been appointed as Japan’s head coach, the first time a foreign coach has taken the role. He recently left Manchester City where he was Director of football, because he wanted to get back into the coaching side of things.

🧠 QUIZ

Which player is the first to reach 200 WSL appearances?

(Answer at bottom of the email)

👟 KIT DROP

Christmas Cracker

Today is the last day of the Foudy’s Christmas Cracker. They’ve had deals on Barcelona kit, Arsenal kit, football boots and more. Today’s cracker is a surprise and it’s live between 6-7pm. So keep your eyes on their socials for more info. Foudy’s is a Women’s Football merch retailer based in Manchester.

BallerFC England Scarf. We’re big fans of BallerFC events, and they’ve just launched their fresh range of merch including this epic Lionesses scarf. Available in classic, mono-blue and mono-red colourways at the bargain price of £25. Grab yours here and support women’s football.

Classic colourway

Adidas has a new limited-edition COPA Luxe Control boot in Cloud white and gold. They’re designed for midfielders who need traction, close control, and a soft touch on the ball. Available now

Coming in Summer 2025, the return of the Nike Total 90 sneaker in Burgandy, Orange and White colourways. They’ve not stopped there. There’ll be lifestyle versions of the Gato indoor boot in gold and silver metallic colourways.

🛋️ DITCH THE SOFA

Upcoming events

Join Baller FC X Counter Pressed for their Christmas Karaoke Cracker
Thursday 19 December
The Karaoke Hole, 95 Kingsland Road, London
Tickets here

Is there a women’s football event happening near you? Give us a heads-up.

🛋️ ACL WATCH + INJURY UPDATES

Greenwood injury update

Alex Greenwood was stretchered off the pitch during Man City’s Champions League match against St Polten after colliding with Melanie Brunnthaler. The injury seems to be less serious than initially thought, although Gareth Taylor said they’ll wait for scan results before making an update on recovery time.

Meanwhile, in more positive news for Taylor’s squad, Viv Miedema and Naomi Layzell are close to returning to the pitch. It’s expected they’ll make a return in January.

📺 WEEKLY WATCHLIST

What We’re Watching

Tuesday 17 December 2024
Women's Champions League Group Stage
17:45 - FC Twente vs Celtic [DAZN]
17:45 - Real Madrid vs Chelsea [DAZN]

Wednesday 18 December 2024
Women's Champions League Group Stage
17:45 - Barcelona vs Manchester City [DAZN]
20:00 - Arsenal vs Bayern Munich [TNT Sports 1, DAZN]

WSL returns on Friday 17 January 2025

📂 JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

More Women Working in Football

Content Creator - Football | Wasserman | Apply Now
Head of Academy Psychology | West Ham Utd | Apply Now
Player Recruitment Officer (Women & Girls) | Brighton & Hove Albion | Apply Now
Senior Commercial Content Manager | Arsenal | Apply by 20 December
Social Media Producer (Women) | Tottenham Hotspur | Apply by 10 January

🧠 QUIZ ANSWER: