Brentford to host World Sevens as Villa & Man Utd enter

There were extravagant celebrations and walkouts at the tournament in May [Getty Images]

Aston Villa and Manchester United will compete in this year's Women's World Sevens tournament, which will be hosted by Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium.

It is the third staging of the tournament, which is being hosted in England for the first time, having been held in Portugal and the United States in 2025.

Manchester United are taking part for the second time, while Villa will make their debut in the competition, which will run from 28-30 May, finishing a day before the Women's FA Cup final at Wembley.

The remaining six clubs, who will all be from the Women's Super League, will be confirmed over the next few weeks.

"It's a great opportunity to be part of something a little different in the women's game and we're looking forward to it," said Villa's managing director Maggie Murphy.

Previous events in Estoril and Fort Lauderdale provided a prize money pool of $5m (£3.76m) spread among its eight teams - but it will be lower this time, with a total of $1.5m (£1.1m).

The winner will earn $500,000 (£372,000), while the runners-up receives $250,000 (£186,000).

Teams finishing in the top four will see their prize money split evenly, with 50% going directly to the players and staff competing, and the other half going to the club to distribute how they see fit.

Brentford has hosted high-profile games at previous women's football tournaments, including Euro 2022 and the 2026 Champions Cup.

• What is World Sevens Football?

Why is the prize money lower?

The tournament was co-founded by American entrepreneurs Jennifer Mackesy and Justin Fishkin. Mackesy, minority owner of Gotham FC and Chelsea, has invested $100m in the competition over five years.

Prize money is lower this time around as World Sevens organisers continue to assess where best to distribute funds globally.

WSL clubs Manchester United and Manchester City were part of the inaugural tournament in Estoril last May, won by Bayern Munich, who earned £1.8m ($2.5m) in prize money. San Diego Wave won the North American event in December.

English clubs continue to generate the most revenue in women's football, and according to analysis by Deloitte in January, Arsenal top the charts.

• Smoke cannons and 'ginga' - the World Sevens kicks off
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What is the format?

With rolling substitutes, no offsides and 15-minute halves, the seven-a-side format is designed to bring out flair and creativity, as well as attacking intent.

Each team will play between three and five matches on grass pitches half the size of the usual 11-a-side field.

The eight teams will be split into two groups, playing in a round-robin format over the first two days. The top two clubs in each group advance to the semi-finals, which will be followed by a third-place match and the final.

Teams have up to 14 players in their match squads, with unlimited rolling substitutions allowed.

As well as changes on the pitch, there is festival-like additions off it, including live DJ sets, smoke cannons and free merchandise given out to fans during games.

All matches will be shown on DAZN.

Tournament organisers have previously said they could host up to three World Sevens competitions a year across multiple continents.

[BBC]

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