We look at some news from down under ahead of Season 10 of the Westfield W-League in Australia which begins later this fall. We also present Scotland's squad for a friendly in Hungary in mid-September while another English international leaves Man City for a top club abroad.
Westfield W-League News Ahead of Season 10
Football Federation Australia (FFA) announced last month that Scentre Group, the owner and operator of the Westfield Shopping Center chain, will continue to support Women's Football in Australia, including the W-League, for two more years. Westfield also sponsor the national women's sides and the national youth championships for girls. FFA CEO David Gallop said: "As we approach the tenth season of the W-League it is important to recognize that Westfield was there at the very beginning as the inaugural naming rights partner of the competition and has been there ever since.
Since 2008 the Westfield Matildas have achieved much, winning the AFC Women's Asian Cup in 2010 and were runners-up in 2014; Quarter Finalists at the 2011 & 2015 FIFA Women's World Cups and Quarter Finalists at the 2016 Rio Games. We have seen the Westfield Matildas FIFA World Ranking rise from 14th in 2008 to our highest ever position of 5th in 2016. The Westfield Matildas are currently ranked 7th. As we all know, football is the world's biggest sport and biggest participation sport in Australia, which has recently been confirmed by the AusPlay results from the Australian Sports Commission, and female football is our fastest area of that growth."
Peter Allen the Chief Executive Officer of the Scentre Group, said: "We are proud to continue as the Official Partner of Women's Football in Australia, supporting women's football from grassroots to a national level, covering the Westfield Matildas, Westfield Young Matildas, Westfield W-League, and the Westfield National Youth Championships for Girls."
In other news, in September the Westfield Matildas will face the Brazilian Women's National Team in a two-match series at Penrith (greater Sydney) and Newcastle. Australia defeated Brazil earlier this month at the Tournament of Nations in California by a phenomenal 6-1 score.
For the W-League this season, anticipation will be high as last year was a success on the live and television audience side for the Grand Final. A record Grand Final crowd of 4,591 was in attendance at nib Stadium in Perth to witness champions Melbourne City repeat their 2015/16 title by defeating the home side 2-0, surpassing the previous best that was set back in 2009. In addition the Grand Final had record television viewers on Fox Sports (165,000) and ABC TV (275,000), exceeding 440,000 between the two outlets.
On the field, Melbourne City will look to add a third consecutive title to their previous two, but will face considerable completion, not least from Sydney FC, who have a new coach this season, but one who brings vast knowledge of the women's game. Ante Juric, a former national team player who also lined up for Sydney Olympic in the NSL and Sydney FC in the A-League, was an assistant coach of the Sky Blues Westfield W-League team during the first two campaigns of 2008 and 2009 under Alen Stajcic.
He has more recently been assistant Matildas coach as well as head coach of the women's national teams at under 17 and under 19 level. Juric said: "It's a privilege to be coaching at a big club like Sydney FC with a fantastic history in both the men's and women's competitions. I want to build on what has already been achieved here and continue the Sky Blue legacy of success in the W-League (who won titles in 2009-10 and 2012-13). My main goal is to win the Championship and also to secure the Premiership. Nothing less is acceptable by the standards expected by Sydney FC in my opinion."
Adelaide United, still after their first playoff spot in their tenth season, also has a new coach in Ivan Karlović. Karlović has been with the Reds for a number of years working with both the Youth and Women's sides. Karlović was formerly boss at PS4 NPL (National Premier League) club MetroStars, leading them to the 2014 NPL title of South Australia as well as the National NPL Championship the same year. A former defender, Karlović amassed 44 appearances in the National Soccer League with Adelaide City and Sydney Olympic.
On the subject of expansion for both the Hyundai A-League (men) and Westfield W League, the Australian Football Federation found that expanding the Hyundai A-League by two teams under the current model would result in net losses over the next six years. This is because grant distributions to the new clubs, and the increase in costs to FFA for operational matters such as transportation, would exceed increased revenues for the club through broadcasting arrangements and sponsorships. As the FFA is a not-for-profit organization that redistributes all of its income into the clubs and other parts of the game, such losses are not sustainable.
FFA CEO David Gallop explained: "We recently advised the clubs that we must explore a new model for the Hyundai A-League/Westfield W-League. We agree that we need to protect the value of the existing licenses in which the current owners have invested. We want to expand the leagues but this has to happen as part of a new structure. That's why we are now working with the clubs to determine the future structure of the leagues and the criteria for expansion. FFA is engaging a corporate advisory firm to assist with developing models for a new structure and to provide advice on the financial aspects of the expansion process." Reports are that expansion is not expected before the 2018-19 season at the earliest. The growth of the W-League is important. Melbourne City, which entered the league in 2014, has been an unqualified success but the league needs to grow to compete for attention against women's leagues in Australian Football, Netball, Basketball and Cricket.
One possibility could be to expand to New Zealand, as the A-League did years ago, first to Auckland and then to Wellington where the Phoenix have done well since they entered in 2007/08. This could be a can of worms howcver as the Phoenix has fought off attempts to ban them from the A-League, run by the Asian Football Confederation, as they belong to Oceania. The two nations were original Oceania Confederation members years ago and have a long history of cooperation in numerous sporting codes. Particularly for the women's game, one or two franchises in New Zealand could help further the development of the game there, though travel costs could be substantial, though likely no higher (and a shorter flight) than a Sydney side traveling to Perth.
The Westfield W-League annual awards, held in late spring at the end of the A-League season, saw Sam Kerr (Perth Glory/Sky Blue FC) won the Julie Dolan medal for Player of the Year with 23 points, ahead of Katrina Gorry (Brisbane Roar FC/Vegalta Sendai –21 points), Sofia Huerta (Adelaide United/Chicago Red Stars –17 points), Natasha Dowie (Melbourne Victory/Boston Breakers –13 points), Ashleigh Sykes (Canberra United/Portland Thorns –11 points) and Megan Oyster (Newcastle Jets/Boston Breakers –11 points). All of the six finalists currently play in NWSL, except Japan-based Katrina Gorry, who played with FC Kansas City in 2014. Kerr also won the Westfield W-League 2016/17 Goal of the Year for her 18th minute strike against Sydney FC in Round 6. Canberra United's Ashleigh Sykes won the Westfield W-League 2016/17 Golden Boot Award with 12 goals as her side won the Premiership (Regular Season) title. Lydia Williams from Melbourne City FC/Houston Dash received the Westfield W-League Goalkeeper of the Year Award. Bobby Despotovski from Perth Glory was named the Westfield W-League Coach of the Year, as voted for by his peers.
Remy Siemen (Sydney FC) was the winner of the Westfield W-League NAB Young Footballer of the Year Award. Siemsen (18) scored six goals to lead Sydney FC, which finished in third place last season but were dispatched in the semifinals by Perth Glory 5-1 on the road. Other finalists for the Young Footballer Award were Canberra United forward Nickoletta Flannery and Adelaide United's Alex Chidiac.
Scotland calls in 23 players for pre-Women's World Cup match in Hungary
New Scotland head coach Shelley Kerr, a former Scottish international who coached Arsenal after Laura Harvey left to coach the Seattle Reign in 2013, has brought in 9 players from Scottish clubs, 7 from England, 3 from Sweden, and 1 each from Germany, Italy and the NWSL (defender Rachel Corsie of Harvey's Seattle side). Frankie Brown played with Bristol Academy in WSL-2 but is currently without a club. Former coach Anna Signeul, who headed the side for 12 years, had announced that she was stepping down after this summer's Euros and is now in charge of Finland's quest for the 2019 WWC.
The squad is the first since Scotland veterans Ifeoma Dieke, Leanne Ross and former captain Gemma Fay announced their retirement following careers that earned them 458 caps between them. Lucy Graham of Hibernian and Lee Alexander of Glasgow City are hoping for their first caps. Manchester City striker Jane Ross returns after leaving the Euros in the Netherland with a shoulder injury she received in the first match against England, a 6-0 defeat. Kim Little (Arsenal), Jennifer Beattie (Manchester City/Melbourne City) and Lizzie Arnott (Hibernian) are still out of the squad due to injuries.
Scotland will play Hungary on September 14th in Budapest, their last friendly before their first two 2019 World Cup qualifiers in October against Belarus and Albania.
Scotland Women's National Team squad
Goalkeepers
Lee Alexander (Glasgow City) 0 caps
Megan Cunningham (Celtic) 2 caps
Shannon Lynn (Vittsjo GIK) 24 caps
Defenders
Chloe Arthur (Bristol City) 7 caps
Vaila Barsley (Eskilstuna United) 6 caps
Frankie Brown (—) 90 caps
Rachel Corsie (Seattle Reign) 91 caps
Sophie Howard (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim) 3 caps
Joelle Murray (Hibernian) 44 caps
Rachael Small (Hibernian) 28 caps
Kirsty Smith (Hibernian) 24 caps
Midfielders
Leanne Crichton (Glasgow City) 55 caps
Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea LFC) 12 caps
Lisa Evans (Arsenal) 63 caps
Lucy Graham (Hibernian) 0 caps
Hayley Lauder (Glasgow City) 86 caps
Joanne Love (Glasgow City) 180 caps
Caroline Weir (Liverpool) 41 caps
Forwards
Fiona Brown (Eskilstuna United) 22 caps
Lana Clelland (UPC Tavagnacco) 18 caps
Claire Emslie (Manchester City) 2 caps
Christie Murray (Doncaster Rovers Belles) 48 caps
Jane Ross (Manchester City) 107 caps
Lucy Bronze leaves Man City for Lyon
English international defender Lucy Bronze (25) announced last week that she will be playing for two-time reigning UEFA Champion's League winner Olympique Lyonnais, leaving Manchester City. She inked a three year deal. Bronze won two Super League titles with Liverpool and before that played at the University of North Carolina, where she won a College Cup title in 2009.
Bronze said: "I'm very excited to join Olympique Lyonnais, which has the best women's team in the world, with the best players in the world. I needed a new challenge to go higher. I remember how hard it was to play against the OL in the Champions League, I was able to meet the coach, the staff, and the players, and everyone was very nice to me. New adventure." Lyon beat Man City 3-2 on aggregate in last season's Champions League semifinals.
Bronze is the second English international to sign for a club abroad in recent weeks, joining Toni Duggan who left Man City for Barcelona. German international Pauline Bremer has left Lyon for Manchester City. She scored 16 goals in two seasons at the club. She previously played at home with Turbine Potsdam.
Next Week: We look at the 40 teams in the 2017-18 Women's Champions League preliminary group stage qualifiers, which ended on August 28, including results, top players and their use of imports.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey
