May 26 – Women’s professional football in England is over for the season after what the English FA said was “overwhelming feedback from clubs” with the decision made “in the best interest of the women’s game”.
The Women’s Super League and Championship seasons have thus been ended with immediate effect because of the coronavirus pandemic which “will also enable clubs, the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship board and the FA to plan, prepare and focus on next season when football returns for the 2020-21 campaign.”
It means all divisions of women’s football in England have now been cancelled for the 2019-20 campaign. Various recommendations have been sent to the FA to “determine the most appropriate sporting outcome for the season”.
Manchester City were top of the table when the season was suspended in March although second-placed Chelsea had a game in hand on the leaders. Reigning champions Arsenal were three points further back in third place.
Still to be confirmed are England’s two representatives in next season’s Women’s Champions League, which, the FA said, “would be based on sporting merit” from the WSL season.
In a statement City said: “Whilst disappointed that we are unable to complete the season, we understand the complexities of the situation… We will now move forward with preparations for next season.”
But Chelsea’s Swedish international defender Magdalena Eriksson said parity with the men was being ignored.
“Why are the men finishing their league at every cost and not us? Ideally we all wanted a solution that felt right,” she wrote on social media.
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