By David Gold
April 12 – The new semi-professional eight team English FA Women’s Super League will get underway tomorrow night live on ESPN as Arsenal take on Chelsea.
The competition will run over the summer, and will also feature Birmingham City, Bristol Academy, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Everton, Lincoln and Liverpool.
Each team will play each other twice over 14 match days for the Super League title.
The Football Association has invested £3 million in the new competition, and its chairman David Bernstein said: “This is a true landmark in the women’s game, a real opportunity for it to take off in England.
“The launch of this league together with England competing in the World Cup in Germany makes for an exciting summer of women’s football ahead.”
England manager Hope Powell has been closely associated with the new league’s design, and she spoke during the launch of the new competition at Wembley Stadium of her hope that playing during the summer months can attract and encourage people to follow the women’s game.
She said: “The male game in this country is obviously so big.
“I think we just needed to find a slot where we could promote the game and get some air time.
“I think the fact that it will be in the summer will encourage people, hopefully, to come out and watch in the warmer weather.”
The new league has been thought through carefully to maximise possible revenues through sponsorship at a time when the men’s domestic game will have finished for the season.
And the TV coverage the new competition gets will be particularly crucial, something Powell believes could make a huge difference.
She said: “It will be phenomenal, it will really help raise the platform of our game.
“I think if it’s televised and the product is good and the games are a pleasure to watch, it just reaches another audience, and then we get people interested in women’s football and it just raises the profile.”
Arsenal and England captain Faye White is similarly enthusiastic about kicking off tomorrow night.
“It is a massive time for women’s football,” the defender explained.
“Internationally England have been improving and doing well on the world stage and in Europe.
“Now it’s time for our domestic league to get a bit more profile and coverage, to show what that level is like.”
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