Women’s Club World Cup row builds as WSL warns of ‘catastrophic’ impact | OneFootball

The inaugural Women’s Club World Cup’s January 2028 dates “could be catastrophic”, the Women’s Super League has said, with the league raising serious concerns over the potential impact of the tournament on domestic calendars.

A WSL spokesperson said on Wednesday that the league is firmly against the dates and have made their case strongly to Fifa, who have announced that the competition will be held from 5–30 January 2028.

A WSL spokesperson added that they believe clubs and players are also opposed to the schedule, but the league are stopping short of calling for a boycott or threatening to withdraw English teams from the competition, adding: “We are not against the introduction of new tournaments in principle [but] those dates would have an impact on five WSL match rounds.”

The WSL has called for the competition to be held during the northern hemisphere’s summer months instead. The league’s spokesperson also added that they do not want to prevent their member clubs from participating. The qualification pathways for different continental confederations has not yet been revealed, nor has a host.

On Tuesday, Fifa’s chief football officer, the former USWNT coach Jill Ellis, appeared to be open to the possibility of the 2028 tournament being contested in the Middle East. She also criticised anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the United States, warning of hypocrisy and not wanting to “throw stones in glass houses” when discussing the prospect of Qatar hosting the event. The Guardian revealed this month that the world’s governing body is in discussions with Qatar as a possible host.

The January 2028 dates would not clash with any Women’s Champions League ties, but many domestic European leagues will be affected. The WSL currently has a winter break from mid-December to early January.

The new Women’s Club World Cup had been originally targeted for 2026 by Fifa but the Guardian exclusively revealed last year that it was likely to be delayed.

The expanded men’s Club World Cup was held last summer for the first time, in the United States, and was won by Chelsea. Unlike men’s football, the women’s game has never previously had a formalised, global club-level tournament. This month, the smaller “Champions Cup” is being run by Fifa, held in London, with Arsenal among the four teams in the semi-finals, but the 2028’s Women’s Club World Cup event would have 16 teams.

The latter stages of the Champions Cup gets under way on 28 January at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium. The Concacaf champions Gotham FC, last year’s Libertadores Femenina winners, Corinthians and the African Champions League winners ASFAR are taking part, together with the European champions Arsenal. The final will then be held at the Emirates Stadium on 1 February, with that match clashing directly with the meeting of the WSL’s top two sides, Manchester City and Chelsea, being played in the league on the same day.

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