Ex-USWNT player Lauren Holiday calls for ‘harmonised’ women’s calendar | OneFootball

Two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 2015 World Cup winner Lauren Holiday has called for the global harmonisation of the women’s soccer calendar to help grow the sport.

Doing so could echo a recent move by Major League Soccer to move to a European, fall-to-spring schedule from July 2027. Holiday, a former USWNT forward, believes the women’s game could follow their example, or do the opposite and have everyone play through the summer.

“I think either model could work, it just depends on what investment is behind it, who is supporting it in the broadcasting world and who’s putting it on prime time?” Holiday said, speaking after the investment group she chairs, Mercury13, completed the majority purchase of Spanish club FC Badalona Women.

The National Women’s Soccer League season in the US begins this weekend and runs through to October, whereas most European leagues are scheduled from September to May.

Given the commercial strength of the NWSL, the most likely switch would see European leagues adopting the American calendar. The NWSL’s domestic TV contracts with ESPN, CBS, Amazon Prime and Scripps are worth a combined $60m per season, while England’s Women’s Super League, the biggest league in Europe, has a domestic TV deal worth $17.5m each season.

The WSL has also struggled to secure attractive broadcast slots from its rights partner, Sky Sports, who prioritise Premier League and EFL matches.

As a result, viewing figures for early kickoffs this season have been low, with the Guardian reporting that an average audience of just 59,000 watched live coverage of Arsenal’s 2-1 over Liverpool on a Saturday lunchtime in December.

“I see huge benefits in having a harmonised global calendar because of the talent pathway and how you’d be able to move players,” Holiday told the Guardian. “I think it would be so much easier if everyone was on the same schedule.

“Does it make sense for the US to be on the same calendar as everyone else? It would be interesting to see how it would work, and I would like to see that.”

Mercury13 also own Bristol City Women, who are pushing for promotion from WSL2, and FC Como Women in Serie A.

The women’s-only fund has secured significant investment from Avenue Sports, a global private equity fund that has raised over $1bn. Avenue previously held a stake in EFL Championship club Ipswich Town and have backed Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy’s TGL Golf League.

Holiday has set Badalona, who are now eighth in Liga F and play Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey this week, an ambitious target of Champions League qualification.

Based in Portland, the 37-year-old argues that the NWSL still sets the standard globally due to the depth of the 16-team competition, but believes that European leagues are rapidly closing the gap.

“Badalona can be a massive competitor in the European landscape,” Holiday said. “I think we have a good squad, and if we keep on pushing we can reach the Champions League. How incredible would that be?

“Badalona has close proximity to Barcelona, but they also have the infrastructure already in place. There’s such a rich talent pool in Spain. I just think that the league is going to continue to grow.

“I think you see it in the NWSL. It has continually been more and more competitive. I think it’s happening in the WSL, and I think other leagues are going to continue to expand and grow in the same way and at the same rate.

“The gap is closing rapidly, for sure. I think the difference is that in the NWSL, the disparity across the clubs is smaller, and it’s a lot more competitive across the whole league. In the WSL and La Liga there’s three or four top teams, and then the rest kind of drop off.

“I think that’s down to talent pathways and development. Women’s soccer is the top sport for girls in America, and we have the college pathway and the club pathway to college, which is a huge advantage. I think we’re going to see that more and more in Europe.”

Header image: [Photograph: Justine Willard/NWSL/Getty Images]