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Emma Hruby
May 15, 2024
FIFA has set the dates for the first edition of the Women’s Club World Cup.
The first Women’s Club World Cup will take place in January-February 2026, with the 16-team tournament held every four years after that, FIFA said in Wednesday’s statement. Initial plans to introduce a Women’s Club World Cup were revealed in May 2021 by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who then called it was part of a plan to “revolutionize” the women’s game.
“It’s crucial, after the huge, huge success in Australia and New Zealand at the last [FIFA] Women’s World Cup, where we had two million viewers in the stadiums [and] two billion around the world, that we build on that success to create new global competitions, because national team football is obviously based on club football as well,” Infantino said following today’s FIFA Council meeting, which occurred in advance of the 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok.
🔘 Approval of the Women's International Match Calendar 2026-2029
🔘 First edition of FIFA Women's Club World Cup to take place in early 2026
🔘 Mattias Grafström formally appointed as FIFA Secretary General
All the key updates from today’s FIFA Council meeting in Bangkok:
The council additionally unanimously approved a new international match calendar with a focus on increased opportunities for rest and recovery for both players and coaches. The overloaded calendar in the women’s game has been a growing point of contention for players as the number of injuries — specifically ACL injuries — continue to rise.
Between summer international tournaments and delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain European teams had to contend with the possibility of extremely condensed playing demands. That meant balancing workloads between the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), 2022 European Championships, 2023 Women’s World Cup, 2024 Olympics, and another Euros in 2025.
When England failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics in December 2023, captain Leah Williamson told the Telegraph that she and her teammates were actually a bit relieved to have the summer off.
“It’s horrendous that one of the first things that popped into my head about the Olympics was, ‘at least they’ll probably all get another two or three years on their career now, because they’ll get a summer off,'” she said. “Everyone needs a rest and now they’ll get one.
“Nowadays we get to October and girls are saying, ‘I’m tired,’ because you’re carrying so much from the previous season. We are driving ourselves into the ground with it, so some sort of solution needs to be found soon, in terms of the schedule, otherwise it’s not sustainable.”
It should be said that the international schedule doesn’t include club responsibilities. The NWSL season kicked off this year with a number of players sidelined due to injuries picked up while playing for their national squads. This was an issue for Gotham FC, whose coach Juan Carlos Amorós called out the international schedule after USWNT forward Midge Purce suffered an ACL tear after competing in the Concacaf Women’s Gold Cup.
“We lost Midge during the game which for me is a bittersweet flavor,” Amorós told reporters after Purce exited Gotham’s March 24th match against Portland. “By the way, it’s another player that came from the Gold Cup. Last week, it was Debinha. We are paying the consequences of a tournament that shouldn’t have happened.
“We’re talking about protecting the players, [who shouldn’t] go to play an international competition after one week of preseason. We’ve seen the consequences now. We’ve got Rose, Lynn, last week it was Debinha in Kansas [City] and now we have Midge. From my experience, the clubs are going to keep paying for that competition.”
On Wednesday, Infantino said that rectifying the international match calendar is another step in enhancing the level of competition across the board.
“The Women’s International Match Calendar and the subsequent amendments to our regulations represent an important milestone in our pledge to take the women’s game to the next level by enhancing competitiveness across the world,” he said.
“This calendar is such a critical tool to ensure we continue to drive global professionalization of women’s football,” added FIFA Chief Women’s Football Officer Dame Sarai Bareman in a statement. “In many parts of the world, international football provides crucial top-flight playing opportunities for female players, and this is particularly the case in nations where domestic leagues are not yet fully professional. This calendar strikes a balance to enable the domestic and international games to grow side by side, while at the same time ensuring players will have more opportunities to rest, recover, and re-train between windows and following major tournaments.”
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Emma Hruby
May 21, 2024
Australia has confirmed that captain and star striker Sam Kerr will miss the Paris Olympics due to an ACL injury suffered early this year.
Kerr, who also stars for Chelsea, tore her ACL in January. While unlikely that she would recover in time for the Olympics, Football Australia (FA) hadn’t confirmed her status until Tuesday when the team revealed its squad for upcoming warm-up games.
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In a statement, the FA said that Kerr remained on the sidelines and will continue her rehab program at Chelsea.
“Attacker Amy Sayer (ACL) and forward Sam Kerr (ACL) remain on the sidelines with long term injuries,” the report read. “Kerr and Sayer will continue their rehabilitation programmes in their home club environments and subsequently will not be available for selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”
Tuesdays 23-player squad is a “strong guide” to the final Olympic lineup, according to coach Tony Gustavsson, but others like injured midfielders Katrina Gorry and Aivi Luik could potentially figure into the conversation.
“[They] most likely will be physically available to be part of an Olympic roster,” Gustavsson said of Gorry and Luik. “This window will be a tough one for me and my staff in terms of evaluating players, where they are, and then the final selection process for Paris.”
Emma Hruby
May 21, 2024
The USWNT dropped its June roster on Tuesday, the first under newly minted head coach Emma Hayes.
The USWNT is entering a new era ahead of the national team’s two June friendlies with the Republic of Korea, with veterans blending with more recent additions throughout the lineup. The squad unveiled today included a few surprises, as well as some key absences as the USWNT steers toward the 2024 Olympics.
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Notably, longtime starting goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher will not be reporting to camp this month. Naeher was injured in the Chicago Red Stars’ win over Utah on May 12th and did not play over the weekend, although she did travel with the team to New Jersey.
On the team’s injury report, Naeher was listed as out with a thigh injury. Coach Lorne Donaldson said ahead of the match that the team was “still evaluating [Naher], but no, it doesn’t look good” in regards to her availability.
As a result, Jane Campbell, Aubrey Kingsbury, and Casey Murphy all received a call up, with Murphy the most-capped goalkeeper of the trio.
Some recently injured stars did manage to make their way onto the roster, with Alex Morgan and Jaedyn Shaw both included among the team’s forwards. Morgan hasn’t played since April 20th, but recently posted a photo of herself training to her Instagram story with the caption “Work in progress.”
Shaw, meanwhile, went down with an ankle injury on May 13th, sitting out San Diego’s latest game.
Other call-ups fresh off the injured list include Naomi Girma and Tierna Davidson, although both recently returned to club play. Midfielder Rose Lavelle will also make her return to the USWNT roster after having been out since the W Gold Cup.
Ajax’s Lily Yohannes finds herself rostered once again the 16-year-old dual national continues to mull her national team options between the USWNT and the Netherlands.
There’s a number of Washington Spirit players on the roster this time around, with Hal Hershfelt earning her first USWNT call-up alongside Chicago’s Sam Staab. NWSL rookie of the month Croix Bethune, Kate Wiesner, and Olivia Moultrie will join as training players.
One glaring roster absence was Lynn Williams, who was not included among the team’s forwards. On Sunday, Williams broke the NWSL all-time scoring record with her 79th career goal in Gotham’s victory over Chicago. Joining the forward group is Crystal Dunn, who has traditionally played as a defender with the USWNT and as a midfielder in the NWSL.
“I’m really looking forward to getting started,” Hayes said in a USWNT press release. “The preparations have been well underway and I can’t wait to get into camp. We know it’s a short turnaround and we have a lot of work to do, but I’m fully focused on making sure that the performances are at the levels that are required to compete.
“I expect complete commitment from everyone to absorb very quickly the things that I value as the most important so that we can compete this summer. I know they are a highly coachable group and I’m looking forward to challenging them. It’s time to go to work. I can’t wait to meet the fans and it’s really time to get behind the team as we get closer to putting a roster together for the Olympics.”
Full June roster:
GOALKEEPERS (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Aubrey Kingsbury (Washington Spirit), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage)
DEFENDERS (7): Tierna Davidson (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Sam Staab (Chicago Red Stars)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon), Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Lily Yohannes (Ajax)
FORWARDS (7): Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Catarina Macario (Chelsea), Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars)
Emma Hruby
May 20, 2024
37-time world and Olympic medalist Simone Biles took first place at the Core Hydration Classic over the weekend, looking every bit the top contender she is.
Earning an all-around score of 59.500, Biles also earned the highest scores in both the vault and floor exercises. She successfully incorporated the triple-twisting double salto into her floor routine for the first time since the qualifying round at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and picked up the highest score of the night — 15.600 — on vault with a Turchenko double pike.
“I was just happy to be back out there,” Biles told NBCNews. “As long as we’re there cheering each other on and hoping for the best and having confidence in each other’s gymnastics, then it’s going to work.”
Cementing her place as the nation’s second-best all-around gymnast was Shilese Jones, who finished the competition second in the all-around and won the uneven bars with a final score of 15.250.
Reigning all-around Olympic champion Suni Lee won the balance beam event. While she didn’t compete on uneven bars, Lee is aiming to compete in all four events at the 2024 Xfinity US Gymnastics Championships, which kicks off May 30th in Fort Worth.
“I think I’m starting to build a lot more confidence on beam,” Lee told reporters after the meet. “I think it’s super important that we start feeling the nerves now because it’s only gonna get harder.”
In a surprising turn, three-time Olympic gold medalist and 2012 all-around champion Gabby Douglas wound up withdrawing from the Core Hydration Classic after a rough start on the uneven bars.
Douglas’s first return to competition since the 2016 Olympics in Rio came three weeks ago at the American Classic in Katy, Texas. While she finished 10th in the all-around, she scored high enough in the vault and balance beam events to qualify for the US Championships.
“I have to give myself a little bit of grace,” Douglas said after her American Classic appearance. “It ended rough for me in 2016, so I didn’t want to end on that note. I want to make sure I end on love and joy instead of hating something that I love.”
While Biles’s recent performance made her looked like a shoo-in for this summer’s Olympics Games, four additional team members and two alternates are yet to be determined.
Of course, there are some familiar faces still in the mix: Jade Carey, who was on Team USA in 2020, placed fourth overall at the Core Classic while medaling in individual events. Fellow 2020 Olympian Jordan Chiles placed third in the all-around.
The US Olympic gymnastics roster will be determined at the Olympic Trials in late June, with athletes qualifying to compete at the Trials at the US Championships.
Emma Hruby
May 20, 2024
Two of the WSL’s biggest teams will cross the pond this summer, set to battle both each other and select NWSL teams in a series of Stateside club friendlies.
On Monday, the Blues confirmed their matchup against NJ/NY Gotham FC on August 19th, setting up a showdown between two league champions. It’ll be the first time that the English title-winners square off with the NWSL champs.
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Longtime Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger recently joined Gotham FC, setting up an extra layer of intrigue ahead of the August 19th championship scuffle.
It’s not Chelsea’s first time playing in the States. Back in August 2022, the Blues traveled to Portland to compete in that year’s Women’s International Champions Cup.
ESPN reported on Saturday that fellow WSL contender Arsenal is scheduled to face the Washington Spirit in the same timeframe. To cap off their joint US tour, Arsenal will then take on the UK table-toppers at Audi Field in Washington DC.
Making things even more interesting, two of the teams featured in the club friendly series will have recently undergone coaching changes. The preseason matches could be a first look for Sonia Bompastor at Chelsea, as reports indicate that the Lyon manager will take over for incoming UWSNT coach Emma Hayes next season. (Chelsea is waiting until the conclusion of Champions League to make a formal announcement.) In the US, the Washington Spirit will be welcoming Jonatan Giráldez from Barcelona once he finishes his tenure with the Spanish club next month.
This Saturday, Bompastor’s Olympique Lyonnais Féminin will go up against Giráldez’s FC Barcelona Femení in the 2024 UEFA Women’s Champions League Final.
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