From 2026, women's football for club and country will look different. So, what exactly has FIFA done, and will it help grow the game?
Less than 12 hours after Ellie Carpenter walked off the grass in the Spanish city of Bilbao after losing the UEFA Women's Champions League final to Barcelona, the Olympique Lyonnais defender was on a flight back home to Australia to link up with the Matildas in Adelaide.
"When we come out, we want to play our best football, you want to give 100 per cent. And I know every single one of us, we want to give 100 per cent. Some days, that might not be able to physically happen; mentally we can’t do that, but we always try our best.
Further, if the Matildas make it to the gold medal match of the Olympics on August 11, these three players will have just a week to rest before Arsenal's pre-season tour of the USA begins on August 18. The Matildas are part of this growing call for players to be more seriously considered in FIFA's international match calendar, with, showing that FIFA's scheduling remains a major concern for national team players, who desire a stronger voice in the room where these decisions are being made.
There will be a minimum of four weeks in between each window, while there will be at least 10 weeks between a major global tournament like a World Cup and the following window. The extreme distances Australian players must travel to compete on home soil makes the calendar question particularly important for the Matildas.This new calendar, according to FIFA, will be particularly beneficial for players and teams from areas of the world that are less professional, with national team games providing more opportunities to not only play, but to be paid to play, too.
They had reportedly asked FIFA for two blocked-out rest periods, one consisting of 28 days and one of 14 days, ensuring that players were provided with this mandated opportunity to rest outside the commercially-driven interests of their associations or confederations.However, no mandatory rest periods were included in FIFA's final version, with the decisions instead left up to national teams and clubs to manage player loads.
Second, the particular logistical decisions made by FIFA in the construction of their new windows means that domestic leagues — which has become the primary driver of women's football's growth — will potentially find it even more difficult to accelerate in their development."The main income sources — media rights, commercial sponsorships and partnerships, ticketing, hospitality and concessions — all hinge upon match days.
"It's hard to see how the leagues can maintain rhythm and momentum in these conditions," Dodd writes. "For women's football to thrive, the professional leagues must be able to prosper. Chaired by NWSL commissioner Jessica Bareman, the WLF sent a letter to the governing body ahead of the calendar's announcement criticising some of its key elements, including the lengthened Type II windows and overlap with weekends.
FIFA International Calendar Women's Football Sam Kerr A-League Women Competitions Fifpro Player Union Rest Period Women's World Cup Women's Super League NWSL Injury ACL Overload
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