Five years ago, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes called for the Continental League Cup to be scrapped.
“Get rid of it, do more league games,” Hayes said. Competition, he said, had outlived its usefulness. It is a bit ironic that Hayes’ Chelsea have competed in the last four finals, winning two of them. But his argument was as valid then as it is today.
At a time when there is apathy towards the men’s League Cup, which has been running for 64 years and has televised every round of matches, what chance does the women’s equivalent have, which is only 13 years old and is not televised until the final? have?
There are many problems with the format. The Conti Cup was originally a direct knockout competition, but since 2012 there has been a group stage. The problem is that there are no seeds when the draw is made, so you can end up with unequal groups. This season, Aston Villa were drawn against four second division teams. Elsewhere, there was a WSL-only pool and a championship-only pool.
Another problem is that the matches coincide with the group stage of the Champions League. Therefore, any team competing in Europe can skip the first round and move on to the quarterfinals.
Five years ago, Emma Hayes called for the Continental League Cup to be scrapped
One problem is that the matches coincide with the group stage of the Champions League. Thus, any team competing in Europe will be able to skip the first round and go to the quarterfinals.
Your browser does not support iframes.
Two seasons ago we had a situation where Manchester United felt they were at a disadvantage when playing Chelsea because they had two players suspended for receiving two yellow cards. United had played six games before the semi-finals, while Chelsea had only played one.
The additional problem here is that Champions League matches will always attract more interest than Conti Cup matches. Little attention was paid to last week’s Manchester derby because it took place on the same night that Chelsea hosted Real Madrid.
On our It’s All Kicking Off podcast last week, Chris Sutton said the Carabao Cup is a competition no one wants to win until they reach the final. The same can be said for the Conti Cup.
It is a competition that does not provide variety. In 12 editions, only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have won it, and that does not seem likely to change. The only team outside of those three to reach a final in the last six years was Bristol City, and they were beaten 6-0 by Chelsea.
No doubt the top clubs would prefer not to have extra midweek games in their already congested schedules. The other side of the coin is that teams lower in the WSL and Championship like to have extra matches. Second division clubs especially feel that they do not have enough games on the calendar. There is a way to fix this.
Expand both divisions to create more games, which is what Hayes called for in 2019. The issue is whether enough clubs in the Championship would be ready to step up. The same happens with those of the third level.
On the It’s All Kicking Off podcast last week, Chris Sutton said the Carabao Cup is a competition no one wants to win until they reach the final. The same can be said of the Conti Cup
No doubt a club like Newcastle, currently leaders of the Northern Premier League, would be willing to invest enough money to compete further up the pyramid. But how many others would do it?
Perhaps women’s football has a problem with cup competitions in general. The FA Cup will always have more prestige given its history. But there is very little chance of an upset like the one that saw sixth-tier Maidstone United beat second-tier Ipswich in the men’s competition last weekend. The equivalent in women’s football would be my old Sunday League team beating Sunderland, who are second in the Championship. It just won’t happen.
The Conti Cup is here to stay, so how can we improve it? Seeding the groups would be a good starting point. Maybe televising a few matches before reaching the final would also make a difference. In the long term, when league expansion becomes more feasible, we shouldn’t be afraid to get rid of it, as Hayes suggested in 2019.
Key figures in women’s football constantly talk about how women’s football does not need to replicate everything that happens in men’s football. So why do we need a League Cup? Why do men have one? It is not a sufficiently convincing argument. If it was thrown away tomorrow, would anyone really miss it? I doubt it.
Nikki Doucet will be the women behind the transition of the WSL and the Championship
The Football Association will hand over the management of the Super League and the Women’s Championship to a new company (NewCo) starting next season and Nikki Doucet, a former Canadian banker, Nike employee and basketball player, is the woman in charge of directing it.
Doucet was announced as CEO in November and conducted her first round of media interviews last week. There were many things that Doucet could not yet talk about: who will be the investor, the possible sponsorship of the Premier League and who will be part of the board of directors. Something she did talk about in detail was the importance of identifying women’s soccer fans.
‘The experience of attending a women’s match is more like Glastonbury – it’s a festival experience. Who doesn’t want to be a part of that?’ I’m not sure if Doucet has been to Glastonbury, but I’d say the only similarity between that festival and a women’s football match is that sometimes the pitch people play on is of poor quality.
Doucet made some valid points about how the women’s game doesn’t need to copy everything the men’s game has done. It is important to identify the fan base, as Arsenal have done expertly. But comparing match attendance to festival attendance won’t sit well with everyone.
The FA will hand over management of the WSL and Championship to a new company (NewCo) from next season and Nikki Doucet (pictured above) is the woman tasked with leading it.
Chelsea ups the ante on transfers with the signing of Mayra Ramírez from Levante
In what has been a slow transfer window, Chelsea raised the stakes by signing striker Mayra Ramirez from Levante for a world record fee last week.
Levante refused to sell when Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain expressed interest in the striker last summer. But the club could not reject Chelsea’s record offer of 450,000 euros plus 50,000 euros in add-ons.
The Blues don’t usually spend much in January, but with Sam Kerr out for the season and Emma Hayes desperate to win the Champions League before leaving in the summer, the club decided to complete the deal this month.
Ramírez is said to be aggressive, dynamic, powerful and clinical in the area. Chelsea, however, will lose their new striker for a few weeks as she heads to compete in the Gold Cup with Colombia next month.
In what has been a slow transfer window, Chelsea raised the stakes by signing striker Mayra Ramirez from Levante for a world record fee last week.