Globalisation of the WSL
WSL set to replace NWSL as the world’s top female football league
It was a shot to make any marketing executive swoon and Tottenham Hotspur made sure plenty of eyeballs saw it. There was Alex Morgan, on her first day in training, chatting with Jose Mourinho like they were old friends.
This clip featured prominently in publicity produced by Spurs’ media department and no wonder. Morgan, the best-known footballer, male or female, in the world’s wealthiest country, has 9.2 million Instagram followers – more than her new club does. Her arrival at Tottenham, like those of Mourinho, Gareth Bale and the Amazon cameras, is all part of the drive to make Spurs a global powerhouse.
But it was also a significant move outside North London. Morgan became the fifth member of the victorious US World Cup team to join the FA Women’s Super League after the arrivals of Rose Lavelle and Sam Mewis at Manchester City, and Tobin Heath and Christen Press at Manchester United. Add four members of the Dutch team the US beat in the final, an influx of Australians led by Sam Kerr, a cluster of Germany, France and Norway internationals, and Chelsea’s recruitment of Pernille Harder, and the WSL suddenly looks a stronger league than America’s NWSL.
There are special circumstances. Coronavirus has shredded the NWSL schedule and put the 2020 Olympics back a year. US players, and others who normally play NWSL, need matches and only Europe is offering a competitive fixture list. However, this may just have accelerated a shift in power that increasingly looks inevitable.
For decades women’s football in the States benefited from the fact that the men’s game there has a limited heritage. Without the misogyny and chauvinism that kept the women’s game suppressed for so long in Europe (excluding Scandinavia) the women’s game flourished – up to a point (two NWSL predecessors went bust).
However, now Europe’s men’s clubs are finally investing in the women’s game, the sport’s deep historical roots and the clubs’ huge riches are transforming the landscape. Nowhere is this more apparent than in England, where the WSL has followed the model of the Premier League to become an international competition.
When the WSL kicked off this season there were 20 non-UK nations represented. Ninety-four of the 271 players came from outside the British Isles (34%) with only 141 eligible for England (52%). There is a degree of concern about this and the FA are bringing in a homegrown rule similar to that used within the Premier League to ensure England coaches have a sufficiently deep talent pool, but there is no philosophical objection to the league’s globalisation. On the contrary, as with the Premier League, it is seen as a selling point.
Even before Morgan signed, the FA were able to announce a 50-match deal with US TV network NBC signed in the wake of her compatriots’ arrival.
“This is going to be the best league in the world… All the top players now want to play in England”
A similar agreement was struck for Canada (who have four players in the WSL). That brought the number of overseas nations showing WSL matches to 18, including Germany, Italy, Australia, Mexico and Scandinavia. Fans living in countries without a deal can watch on the FA Player, a streaming service run by the FA. The WSL has become the league players want to play in, and the league fans want to watch.
“The WSL is making a name for itself as one of the top leagues in the world and I want to become a part of that history,” says Morgan. “I’ve heard so many great things. There’s been some huge signings in recent years. Some of my US team-mates have come over and
I had positive feedback from them.”
One of those is Tobin Heath who said: “I remember saying when Manchester United came into the league, “Wow, this is huge. This is huge for a club like this to have a women’s team.” It’s so important for clubs with all this tradition and history, power, influence – we see it in America all the time, how much the badge and the club means. It’s so encouraging for the global game at large. We need more of this, and I’m happy to be part of it.”
Kelly Smith, the best female player England have produced, who retired in 2017, spent much of her career playing in the US as that was the place to be. She said: “Our young players now do not have to go to the US, this is going to be the best league in the world with the level of play, the top coaches we have, the resources, the money being put into
Kelly Smith
the game. All the top players now want to play in England.”
Australian Steph Catley, who joined Arsenal after six years in the NWSL, concurred. “Right now this is the place where you want to play football because you’re coming up against the best players in the world, week-in, week-out.”
WSL’s global reach is not complete. There is not, at present, an African player in the league, although there have been a few, notably Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala, now of Barcelona, who played for Liverpool and Arsenal. Nor are there any South Americans, though Ester (Brazil) and Christiane Endler (Chile) previously played for Chelsea. They will come though, drawn by rising wages, the lure of teams affiliated to world-renown Premier League clubs and the chance to play at Wembley and in the Champions League. That is a combination few leagues can match.