Ten senior players and coaches have left and the new structure will make it difficult to attract replacementsLast week, a player exodus at Liverpool continued apace as their two-times title-winning captain Gemma Bonner switched to Manchester City. Something is seriously wrong on Merseyside – of the starting XI that faced Chelsea, the Women’s Super League 1 champions, on 20 May, just three players remain on the books. The departure of Scott Rogers and the arrival of the former Rotherham manager Neil Redfearn from Doncaster Rovers Belles, the WSL2 champions, seems to have come too late to steady the ship.There were high hopes for Liverpool for the 2017-18 season, a feeling that they would be involved in the small group looking...
Phil Neville has made a quietly impressive start as manager and Lucy Bronze has grown in stature but there are still faults to be ironed out in time for next year’s tournament in FranceThe World Cup is just days away and while Gareth Southgate’s side attempt to write a more cheerful chapter to the long Three Lions story, in the background the Lionesses are cruising to qualification for the Women’s World Cup next year.On Friday Phil Neville’s team leapfrogged Wales to once again top their qualification group with a comfortable 3-1 win against third-placed Russia. It was their fifth qualifying win (fourth under Neville) and Elena Danilova’s strike to reduce a 2-0 lead was the first goal they have conceded....
With her standing in the game and experience, the former England captain would be the ideal candidate to lead United’s relaunched women’s sideAfter weeks of quiet rumblings, it is now being widely reported that the announcement that former England captain Casey Stoney will be the manager of the new Manchester United women’s team is imminent.When United revealed their intention to relaunch a women’s side and bid for entry into the new Women’s Championship (second tier) for the 2018-19 season, it was clear that the job would be highly sought after. Related: Casey Stoney: ‘My life would be a hell of a lot simpler if I was straight. Being gay isn’t a choice’ Related: Manchester United to launch women’s team and...
Chelsea can win the Women’s Super League on Tuesday to crown a season in which their experience, squad depth and goalscoring powers have given them the edgeThe final Women’s Super League One season before the autumn rebrand and restructure draws to a close this weekend. On Tuesday night, Chelsea will be crowned champions with one game to play if they avoid defeat at Bristol City. That is not a conclusion everyone had seen coming.At the end of January the top tier looked very much like the men’s Premier League. Manchester City were dominant, having won all seven league games and 17 in a row across three competitions. Although Chelsea had dropped two points, it felt as though the title was...
Mobarez, a former refugee playing in Aalborg, coaches and spreads the word of the women’s game at a camp in DenmarkIn many countries women who play football have to battle against negative attitudes but in arguably one of the most oppressive nations for women, still engulfed in war, where the Taliban no longer rule but their legacy and presence run deep, football can be life or death. Even so, in Afghanistan, where being seen in public without a man is taboo, a group of women are rebelling through their love of the game.Shabnam Mobarez is the captain of the Afghanistan women’s team. An Afghan refugee who moved to Denmark with her family three years after her father had fled there...