The top flight of the Women's Premier League will switch to a summer format if proposals presented by the Football Association are accepted by the 36 clubs in the national and two regional divisions.

The radical suggestions to produce a more competitive league, produced after consultation with the clubs, also include reducing the number of clubs from 12 to eight and spreading the selection of the England squad more evenly around the clubs - nine Arsenal players and six from Everton were in the World Cup squad in September.

The proposals were put to the Premier League's extraordinary general meeting by the FA's marketing manager for women's football, Morag Taylor, who said: "Lots of investment has gone into the grassroots and into the England set-up, now it's time to address the domestic league."

Taylor said there was a strong feeling that a summer game would increase interest from broadcasters and sponsors. But while there was general agreement that the league needed a shake-up, there was concern expressed by clubs at every level.

The Arsenal secretary, Clare Wheatley, said: "A summer league would be good if we can resolve issues like facilities, marketing and so on, but we would definitely be against a player-cap."

And the Southern Division club Fulham's Fred Brockwell, a veteran of the women's game as coach, manager and now administrator, said: "Any new resources going into the game would probably all go to the top clubs, and where would that leave the rest of us?"