COVID-19 and Women's Football

After seeing a lot of news about how COVID-19 has affected sports, I decided to do a quick Google search to read about how it has affected women's football specifically.

"Impact of COVID-19 on women's football." Search.

For my surprise (not) the results did not yield the information I was looking for: all the articles I read focused on men’s football.

That is why I took it upon myself to do some in depth research and attempt to fill that void. Here is a summary of events (up until now) that can give you a good idea of how this pandemic is affecting women's football in different parts of the world.

International Football

According to UEFA, European Women's U-17 and U-19 finals (originally scheduled for May and June 2020 respectively) are postponed until further notice. 

As far as the Women's Euro, it has been rescheduled for 2022. The competition was going to be played from July 7th through August 1st 2021, right in the middle of the rescheduled Men's Euro and Olympic Games. After further consideration, the European top competition for women's national teams was delayed an additional year. That’s a relief.

Some players might not like this delay, especially those that are in the last stretch of their career, fearing they might not make it or that their level might not be up to the standard. But this avoids the unfair competition versus the men's Euro and the Olympic Games for the public’s attention.

A competition of such quality needs its own space. After the success of the Women’s World Cup in France last year, the Women’s Euro promises to have the potential to keep attracting attention to the women’s game. 

Across the Atlantic, the CONMEBOL decided to postpone the final stage of the U-20 Sudamericano Femenino until further notice. In fact, the last matches from the group stage had to be played behind closed doors.

This tournament also serves as qualifier for the U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup, which is still set to happen this upcoming August in Costa Rica and Panama. Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela will be the four teams playing the final stage of the competition.

All other confederations have already completed their respective competitions, or will start them from 2021 onwards.

England

The Barclay's FA Women’s Superleague and the FA Women's Championship (top tier and second tier divisions respectively) are cancelled until at least April 30th, by ordinance of the Football Association. The rest of the divisions below that have been voided and results have been expunged, which means no promotions or relegations will take place.

Before the forced stop, Manchester City led the Barclay's FAWSL with 40 points, followed by Chelsea Ladies with 39 points and Arsenal Ladies with 36 points. There are 6 games left to play in the regular season (Arsenal and Chelsea have 7 pending).

Several options are being considered as to how to move forward, but...what happens if the leagues are cancelled or voided?

In the Barclay's FAWSL, Chelsea would have the most to lose. If it's cancelled and current results stand, they would end up in second place - only 1 point short of Manchester City with one more game to play. If it is voided, they would not qualify for the next UEFA Women's Champions League (assuming 2018/2019 season results are the ones that count).

As for the FAWC, Aston Villa would be stripped of their chance to be promoted, a very unfortunate scenario for the Villans - they lead the league undefeated with 40 points, 6 points ahead of their closest rival Sheffield United Women.

Cancelling or voiding the 2019/2020 season is the last resort for the FA. According to BBC Sports, the governing body of English football "remains determined to complete the Women's Super League season - but wants the campaign concluded by early August." Looking at the amount of matches left to play, the competition will need to resume by mid-July at the latest in order to comply with this cut-off date.

This season has been quite important for women's football in England. More crowds were attending matches, more interest had grown from sponsors, and more audience was being built through social media and TV/OTT platforms, like for example The FA Player.

This health crisis might be a blow to the growth it was experiencing, especially economically. Despite all of this, the FA has informed clubs in the Barclay's FAWSL and FAWC that they "will not receive any financial support from the governing body during the coronavirus lockdown" but maintains finishing the season as top priority. 

Spain

Spanish elite women's league Primera Iberdrola is suspended until further notice. Same applies for second division Reto Iberdrola and for all federated competitions across the country.

Before the imposed break, FC Barcelona led the competition comfortably with 59 points, followed by Atlético de Madrid with 50 points and UD Levante with 45 points.

Primera Iberdrola is the league with the most games left to play in the regular season (8 remaining) out of the main competitions in Europe. This definitely represents a challenge when talking about options to complete the season. Spain can get very hot in the summer, reaching temperatures that make playing any outdoors sport uncomfortable and a lot of times unsafe.

In the meantime, the Spanish football federation has been clear about their intentions to finish what is left of the season one way or the other.

The Association of Women's Football Clubs (ACFF in Spanish) publicly requested the Spanish football federation to "not exclude women's football from the financial help being offered because of COVID-19." 

The federation proposed financial help to entities adhered to the Elite Program they have, but it seems like the requirement to join said program was to "release audiovisual rights to the federation, a condition that could not be satisfied by most clubs because they already had an agreement to release audiovisual rights to another company" explained the ACFF. 

So, we all hope it was a mistake or miscommunication from the federation. If not, this could open a can of worms and the federation could be accused of discrimination for two reasons: firstly, no similar requirement is present for men's clubs in 2nd or 3rd division. Secondly, this seems to be a somewhat unfair and unnecessary requisite for financial assistance in the face of an unpredictable worldwide health crisis.

This is not the first time the Spanish federation is bumping heads with the ACFF. Club's media rights to broadcast games turned into a dispute a few months ago.

Positive things

• Players like Silvia Meseguer (Atletico de Madrid) and Mati Martinez (Albacete, Reto Iberdrola) put their medical careers into practice and helped with hospital duties.

• “Juntas Venceremos”, a fundraising initiated by the very own Liga Iberdrola. They seek to motivate fans to join them in contributing their part to fighting COVID-19 and reach a goal of 20,000 euros. Donors automatically enter a draw to win signed jerseys, boots or goalkeeper gloves from big names like Amanda Sampedro, Vicky Losada and Patri Guijarro. You can donate here.

Germany

The Frauen-Bundesliga, top tier of German women's football, has been suspended until April 30th. 

VfL Wolfsburg leads the table undefeated with 46 points, followed by Bayern Munich with 38 points and 1899 Hoffenheim with 37 points. There are 6 fixtures pending in the regular season.

Heike Ullrich, director of associations, clubs and leagues of the German football federation, says that the goal is to complete the season by June 30th. The chairman of the women's league committee, Siegfried Dietrich, added that "games without spectators could be a realistic lifeline, at least in the context of media presence, to show attractive games and to make sporting decisions." 

As far as the games of the second tier Women's Bundesliga and the DFB Cup, they will initially not take place until April 19 inclusive, but it is safe to say this date will get pushed back to at least the end of the month. The DFB Cup final is set for May 30th in Cologne.

If the season gets cancelled or voided, the biggest loser would be Hoffenheim - they are only one point away from the Champions League spot that Bayern Munich currently occupies.

Positive things

• Players like Gina Chmielinski (Turbine Postdam), Ingrid Syrstad Engen (Wolfsburg) and Caroline Graham-Hansen (FC Barcelona) forgoing 10% of their salary for donation.

France

The Division 1 Féminine is suspended until further notice. As of now, Olympique Lyon is first with 44 points, followed by Paris St. Germain with 41 points and Bordeaux with 37 points. 6 games are left to play in the regular season.

Right before being suspended, Division 1 Féminine fans were about to witness a high voltage match between Olympique Lyon and PSG, decisive for the title race. 

The suspension of the league has brought clear economic consequences to clubs, especially those like FC Fleury. Currently sitting in 7th place, all players from the club are partially unemployed with their gross earnings maintained at 70%, according to French newspaper Ouest France. 

“I am sure clubs with both men's and women's professional teams will automatically cut the women's team budget because the league is not yet profitable” says Pascal Bovis, president of FC Fleury. "The sponsors I spoke with will stay. They will all continue to give, but will give less." Because of the impact of the virus in the league and federation, he calculates the budget available for next season will be between 30% and 50% less than the one for the current campaign.

Meanwhile, the French Football Federation emphasizes that women's football will remain a priority. The FFF is the responsible organism for all federated women's football in all aspects.

UEFA Women's Champions League

The UWCL was cut off right before the quarter finals stage. It is cancelled until further notice.

As some would say, 'good things come for those who wait', and that is definitely the case for the quarter final fixtures we will get to enjoy once the competition resumes. We will get to see exciting matches like Olympique Lyon vs. Bayern Munich and Atlético de Madrid vs. FC Barcelona.

United States

The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) suspended all preseason matches and tournaments and delayed the start of the regular season. As communicated by a letter from Lisa Baird, NWSL Commissioner, on March 17th, the league is in communication and consultation with government health agencies and other sports leagues on “appropriate next steps and contingency plans for the resumption of the 2020 preseason and potential impact on the 2020 regular season.”

In the meantime, the league has taken the initiative to keep their fans engaged and excited about the new season by streaming replays of matches from previous seasons (going back as far as 2016) through the famous video game streaming platform Twitch.

Other European Leagues

• Italy: the rising Women’s Football Serie A held up as much as it could until being forced to stop on the last weekend of February. It has 6 fixtures left to play. 

• Scotland: the Scottish Women’s Premier League only got to see one gameday the last weekend of February before getting suspended indefinitely. 

• Netherlands: the Vrouwen Eredivisie were only 2 games short of finishing the regular season and starting the championship round, played by the top 4 teams.

• Belgium: much like the Dutch league, the Belgian Women's Superleague has 3 fixtures left in the regular season before starting the championship round. 

• We shall see if the decision of ending the season now in the men's championship applies to the women's version of the competition as well. If so, Anderlecht would be crowned champion.

Across the Atlantic

• Brasil: the top women's football competition, Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino A1, started on February 8th. They only got to play 5 matches before having to stop until further notice.

• Mexico: the Liga MX Femenil has been rising in popularity and fan attendance. Tigres UANL, for example, was able to attract an average of almost 10,000 fans to their home games during the 2019 Torneo Apertura. There are 7 fixtures pending (some teams have 8) for the regular season.

Late Start

Besides American NWSL, the following leagues had to cancel the start of their seasons:

• The Norwegian Premier League (Toppserien) and Japanese Nadeshiko League were going to start on March 21st.

• Both the Damallsvenskan and the Elitettan (first and second divisions of Swedish women's football) were set to start on April 3rd. The date has been pushed back to the end of may- beginning of June for now.

The Lucky Ones

• The Australian Westfield W-League finished just in time before the virus outbreak paralized competitions worldwide. Melbourne City were crowned champions of the 2019-2020 season on the last weekend of March.

• New Zealand’s National Women’s League saw the final match of the season on December 15th of last year. Canterbury United beat Northern Lights 4-2 on penalties.

So What Now?

The situation is very tricky. A lot is at stake, but the one thing that is true for everything and everyone is that health and safety come first.

I believe the best option is to wait a little longer and see how it all plays out. After that, because of time issues, an alternative could include playing in the summer (early morning or late night time slots to avoid the heat) and/or playing more than one game a week.

Women’s football cannot afford the luxury of ending the season now. Playing in a few months, even behind closed doors or in the middle of the summer, is the only way I believe money from TV rights and sponsorships can be recovered.

Is it ideal? No. But the truth is that this is an unprecedented scenario, and extraordinary circumstances sometimes call for extraordinary measures.