England’s Women’s World Cup preparations have been rocked by the news that European clubs will not release their players until 10 days before the tournament.
The European Club Association (ECA) has told every women’s national team that players will not be available until the international window officially starts amid an escalating row about player welfare that could have major ramifications for World Cup warm-up camps.
The ECA has written to Fifa to ask for the governing body’s support in their stance after their member clubs, which include those in the Women’s Super League, agreed they will not allow their players to be called up until the mandatory date because they believe the game’s star players need more rest and a proper off-season.
The move could now throw many women’s national team’s existing plans to prepare for the tournament into huge doubt because most national associations have already planned to start their training camps in mid-June and many intend to fly Down Under in early July to acclimatise and play warm -up fixtures. England are scheduled to fly to Australia on July 5.
The World Cup, being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, is taking place from July 20 to August 20, but Fifa’s regulations state that clubs are only obliged to release their players for national team duty from July 10, which is the date after which players are covered by insurance if they are training or playing for their national team – and the date from which clubs are compensated financially by Fifa for releasing their players.
However, sources with knowledge of consultations that have taken place between ECA member clubs told Telegraph Sport that “no amount of financial compensation here will be adequate, because this is a player welfare matter”. The clubs say they are concerned about injuries and are infuriated that their players are not receiving what they feel is an adequate off-season break.
Passions are high amid a high number of injuries to star women’s players, the latest of which has seen Lucy Bronze undergo keyhole knee surgery. England captain Leah Williamson suffered an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury last week that has ruled her out of the World Cup, Beth Mead remains out with an ACL injury and Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas was among those to miss last summer’s European Championship with the same injury.
The WSL campaign concludes on Saturday, May 27 and the Women’s Champions League final is on June 3, but many national teams plan to start their warm-up camps just a couple of weeks later.
England, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are among those who are understood to have written to clubs asking for a mid-June start date for their training camps. England, for example, are understood to be giving their players at least two weeks off after their final club match of the season and are scheduled to meet up as a squad at St George’s Park for their first group prep camp from Monday, June 19, more than a month before the tournament. They also plan to start some players on individual fitness programs remotely from Monday, June 12, and to play a farewell friendly in England before flying to Australia five days before the Fifa window opens.
The root cause of many clubs’ frustration is the late summer dates for the World Cup itself, which is 47 days, or nearly seven weeks, after the Champions League final. By contrast – the Qatar 2022 tournament aside, because of its unique scheduling – major men’s international tournaments have typically been held with start dates in June, much closer to the end of the traditional club season in Europe. Last summer’s Euros, for example, ran from July 6-31, whereas the 2021 men’s Euros ran from June 11 to July 11 in 2021.
After international tournaments that begin in June, players would then typically take an off-season break after that tournament, before returning for pre-season. However, with the World Cup final not taking place until August 20, there is very little time for a post-tournament breather for players before the start of the women’s club seasons, with Champions League first-round qualifiers scheduled to start as early as September 6, and there is another women’s international break in the Fifa calendar in mid-September. The WSL’s 2023-24 season will start on the final weekend of September.
That later positioning of the World Cup within the calendar means that, conversely, national team staff are concerned about players de-conditioning, if they take an extended break after their club seasons end, before then needing a ‘pre-season’ to be at peak performance levels for the World Cup. But clubs have become increasingly concerned about the number of injuries in women’s football and want their players to receive a more substantial off-season rest every year.
The women’s game is currently in a busy period where there are major international tournaments in successive summers. Euro 2021 was delayed until 2022 because of the pandemic, this summer sees the World Cup, 2024 includes the Olympics in Paris and then it is Euro 2025 in Switzerland. The Olympic football competition, for women, involves the senior, first-choice players, unlike in the men’s Olympic football event where there are age-limit rules, so most of the world’s elite women’s players will be heading to Paris next summer.