FA vows women’s game will fight back as Chelsea take WSL crown
The Football Association is confident that women’s football will emerge from the coronavirus crisis in a healthy state, even though the cost of trying to finish this season was too severe for clubs to handle.
It was confirmed yesterday that Chelsea had been crowned champions of the Women’s Super League, with Liverpool relegated to the Championship, after the FA decided to use a basic points-per-game formula to determine the outcome of an incomplete campaign.
Emma Hayes’s side were trailing Manchester City by a point when the competition was suspended on March 13, with the leaders having played one game more.
City will take the second Champions League spot as runners-up. The resolution will also mean Aston Villa are promoted to the top flight.
Founding members and two-time WSL winners Liverpool were “disappointed” by the decision and believed they were in a position to “meet all operational requirements”, despite acknowledging that a return to play was deemed impractical.
Chelsea have now won three league titles under Hayes and the 43-year-old dedicated her side’s title to key frontline workers during the pandemic, adding that football “pales into insignificance at a time like this”.
City said they understood and accepted the FA’S method of determining the championship.
Despite the fact many clubs are releasing players and others face an uncertain future, the FA has not promised any extra funding to help clubs through the crisis, unlike the game’s governing bodies in France and Italy. The FA is adamant it will ensure all WSL and Championship clubs are in a strong enough financial position to start a new season in September, ring-fencing the £7 million it invests in the domestic game, while continuing to talk to the Government and the Premier League about any additional support they might be able to offer.
“The next step for us is to work through the protocols and work out what the [financial] gap is in terms of what is required,” said Kelly Simmons, the FA’S director of the professional game. “We reviewed the finances with all the clubs and the clubs are OK in that sense, and I know a number of clubs have come out and re-emphasised their commitment to the women’s game. I’m really mindful that the Premier League’s funding, the clubs in the Premier League, as well as the EFL, are helping fund and deliver women’s professional football and I think we shouldn’t forget that.”
Simmons said there had been almost “unanimous” support from clubs for the decision to curtail this season because the cost of adopting the same testing programme that has allowed men’s football to return was too high.