Wasted weekend takes wind out of WSL’s sails … and get ready for more

Momentum can be extremely powerful. Just ask Wrexham, anyone involved in English women’s football in the aftermath of Euro 2022 or the scientists calculating Artemis II’s route for Nasa.

The climax to the domestic women’s football season in England, and around Europe, has lost its momentum as an extended international break has arrived. That, coupled with the Easter weekend’s Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals before the international window, means there will be nearly four weeks without WSL fixtures, at a time when the weather is improving, jeopardy surrounding fixtures’ permutations is increasing and interest should be swelling.

The main culprit is the 11-day window for up to three international fixtures, rather than the traditional eight-day window for up to two matches. In Europe, though, it has the feel of a normal window but with an extra week’s preparation and slow buildup because no European national teams have opted to utilise the chance for a third game. England, for example, are hosting Spain on 14 April before 18 April’s game in Iceland – the Lionesses’ 500th fixture – but did not opt for a friendly on 10 or 11 April.

Many countries have opted to play three games. The USA will host Japan in a trio of friendlies on 11, 15 and 18 April. Brazil are playing three games, as are Pakistan, Zambia and many others from Asia and Africa. There is seemingly a disconnect, though, between the global and European schedule.

It was similar during February’s window. That also allowed national teams to play three matches but few took the opportunity. Sarina Wiegman, England’s head coach, said: “My opinion, and the FA opinion, is that, at this moment, we think it’s best to play two, because with the congested agenda and the amount of games the players play, we didn’t want to use the third one.”

For domestic leagues around Europe, the consequence is that this weekend is blank in a calendar that can ill-afford to waste a weekend. For those not on international duty there is surely a risk of underloading and there are potential fitness impacts of going a month without a game. In the Frauen Bundesliga there are no matches between 30 March and 22 April and most teams do not play between 29 March and 25 April, with even fewer teams in domestic cup action over the Easter weekend because it was their semi-finals.

The England coach, Sarina Wiegman, has opposed the idea of a three-match international break. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA

These are missed opportunities to suck in fans during a run-in. Everton, for example, drew 5,292 fans to the Merseyside derby before going a month without a game. Leicester, bottom of the Women’s Super League and badly needing their fans to rally behind the team, do not play at home between 29 March and 3 May. In the second tier, bottom-placed Portsmouth have the longest gap between games, from 28 March to 26 April, and will then have two games to save themselves.

Sunderland attracted 10,156 fans to their most recent home game, a draw with their rivals Newcastle, and were taken over by American investors this week, but have to wait until 26 April for their next home game. And the promotion race, in which goal difference separates the top two of Birmingham and Charlton, similarly has most of April off.

Not everybody is against the hiatus. The Charlton head coach, Karen Hills, said after their cup tie against Liverpool: “There will be a reset moment for those players, just mentally, because we’ve had a tough block. This league is unforgiving, so it’s a moment [now] for us to mentally switch off and I think the players need that. It’ll be a chance for them to go away with their friends and family, try and forget about football for a couple of days, and then we come back in – we’ll be ready to go against Southampton in a few weeks’ time.”

Liverpool's Cornelia Kapocs (left) and Charlton's Mary McAteer battle for the ball during the FA Cup quarter-final. Photograph: Nigel French/PA

Gareth Taylor, the Liverpool manager, seemed to agree, saying: “It’s nice to have a bit of a breather to realise there are other things going on in this world apart from football and our jobs.” His side have hit a good form and will hope to add another fixture to their list by reaching 31 May’s Wembley FA Cup final.

Rest and recovery are of huge importance and there are benefits to this pause, the calm before the storm that will be the final push in May, but if this weekend were properly utilised the domestic season could conclude earlier and allow players a longer off-season break.

More pertinently, for a sport trying hard to grow a fan culture, gaps such as this disrupt the rhythm and make it less likely that new fans can build going to the women’s game into the routine.

It adds to the list of logistical frustrations that must make it exasperating to be a women’s football fan at times. Through no fault of their own club, Aston Villa fans do not know when their next match will be played. Their home game versus Arsenal is listed as 26 April but will move because of Arsenal’s involvement in the Women’s Champions League semi-finals which are – to the inconvenience of domestic leagues and fans – still held on weekends rather than midweek.

That means Villa’s final weekend home game of the season will have come on 15 March. How can anyone hope to grow a match-going movement in such circumstances?

We should be braced for similar in 2027, 2028 and 2029 because – you guessed it – there are three-game international windows scheduled for February, April and November-December for the next three seasons too. This is a problem that will not go away soon.