LAST PORTO CALL FOR CASILLAS...
BARCLAYS SPONSORSHIP HAILED AS A GAME-CHANGER FOR WSL
CHELSEA boss Emma Hayes says women’s football has reached a tipping point with the announcement of over £10million investment from Barclays.
They will become the Women’s Super League’s first ever title sponsor in a three-year deal starting from next season, with prize money of £500,000 on offer to the winners.
The FA yesterday hailed it as
“the biggest ever investment in UK women’s sport by a brand”, and Hayes reckons it will help the WSL become the top league in the world.
Hayes (right), whose side are preparing for a Champions League quarter-final with Paris Saint-Germain at Kingsmeadow tonight, said: “I think the women’s game is at a tipping point. I’ve been saying for a while that this year would be the watershed moment when we would commercialise the game.
“The investment into the recording of women’s sport has reached a point where sponsors want to put more money into it and TV companies want to show more football than ever. This will be the best league in the world. This investment shows we’ve got the pulling power to bring the best players here. “It’s a snowball. English football’s time is coming and I think the rest of Europe fear us and our clubs. It’s such a great news story for our country. America will wonder how they keep pace with that. The best players are not going there, they are coming to England.” The Barclays investment comes in a week where WSL side Yeovil Town were forced to cut off-field staff and may have to revert back to part-time status because of financial concerns.
But Hayes added: “It strengthen everyone else in league. It will pull everyone up. “The best companies want to work with the league. Now we have to challenge clubs to make their commercial departments bring in the same level of sponsors.”
The WSL began in 2011 as an eight-team, semi-pro league, but is now Europe’s only fulltime strictly pro competition, with 11 teams. Chelsea face a PSG team with more than twice their current budget this evening, but Hayes said: “That doesn’t mean they’re twice as good as us. We don’t fear PSG.” STRIKER Sophie Jones says she will give up football after being handed a five-match ban for racially abusing Tottenham defender Renee Hector.
Sheffield United terminated Jones’ contract following the FA verdict.
Hector alleged she was the target of “monkey noises from an opposition will the player” during a match in January. Jones (left) maintains her innocence and claimed: “The hearing took place in a kangaroo court.”
Anti-discrimination campaigners Kick It Out said: “Verdicts like this underline the importance of calling out discrimination wherever it is heard.” SPANISH goalkeeping legend Iker Casillas wants Porto to be his last club after extending his contract there. The 37-year-old (below), has made 149 appearances for Porto since his move from Real Madrid in 2015, winning the Portuguese title last season.