We have added a quick review of the champions and promotion/relegation teams from the 2024-25 season in England’s top three women’s leagues and a postscript to our story on Wolverhampton officials not applying for promotion to the second tier Championship this season while not informing their players or fans until after the Wolves finished a close second to Nottingham Forest in the final game, missing out on the championship and lone promotion spot (see our column earlier this month: The Week in Women's Football: A second division in US; bizarre Wolves; Minnesota to go pro - TribalFootball.com).
We conclude by looking at the results of two matches between Paris FC and Paris St. Germain in the French Cup Final and semifinal of the league championship in our review of the French league season.
Brazil selects eight cities to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup Finals
The eight host cities for the 2027 WWC Finals have been announced:
Belo Horizonte (Estádio Mineirão)—2.3 million (population)
Brasília (Estádio Nacional)—3 million
Fortaleza (Arena Castelão)—2.7 million
Porto Alegre (Estádio Beira-Rio)—1.3 million
Recife (Arena de Pernambuco)—1.6 million
Rio de Janeiro (Estádio do Maracanã)—6.2 million
Salvador (Arena Fonte Nova)—2.4 million
São Paulo (Arena Itaquera)—11.4 million
There is one host city in the south (Porto Alegre) along with the major metropolitan cities of Rio and Sao Paulo, along with two in the center of the country (the capital Brasilia and Belo Horizonte) and three in the Northeast (Fortaleza, Recife and Salvador). I have been in four of these cities—Belo Horizonte, Rio, Salvador and SP—and each is unique with different cultural backgrounds and will be tremendous cities for visitors to explore. These eight cities will also provide relatively short trips between venues in the Northeast, between Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Belo Horizonte and between Rio and SP in a country where air travel is vital.
Four cities were not selected in the final bidding process: Belem (in the far northeast on the Amazon), Manaus (a truly magical local in Amazonas), Cuiaba (in the west in Mato Grosso state) and Natal in the Northeast.
There were 12 sites for the 2014 men’s World Cup (including all eight selected) while Curitiba in the South was a men’s venue but was not one of the finalists considered for the WWC. The women’s game is still growing in the country so not including Manaus and the Pantanal will ease the travel load of visitors and should drive higher attendance figures in the other larger cities.
Mariléia dos Santos (known as Michael Jackson), Director of Football Policies and Women’s Football Promotion at the Brazilian Ministry of Sport, said: “Our goal is for the legacy to reach every corner of Brazil. We already have the National Strategy for Women’s Football underway, which is a plan to strengthen grassroots football, encourage more girls and women to take up the sport, train coaches, referees and administrators, and this will all be intensified with the arrival of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
"We want to create a solid network that will last well beyond 2027. The idea is to decentralise the impact so that women’s football flourishes in every corner of the country. It’s a unique opportunity to change the game, and we’re going to make the most of it because Brazilian women’s football deserves it, and so do the girls in our country.”
2025 FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup Championship
This first ever women’s futsal global championship has finalized their 16 teams, including four from Asia including host side Philippines:
AFC
IR Iran
Japan
Philippines
Thailand
CAF
Morocco
Tanzania—the country’s first ever FIFA finals—men’s or women’s
CONCACAF
Canada
Panama
CONMEBOL
Argentina
Brazil
Colombia
OFC
New Zealand
UEFA
Italy
Poland
Portugal
Spain
The tournament will be held from November 21 through December 7. Futsal is a five-a-side indoor soccer game played in two 20-minute halves. Like hockey, teams can make changes on the fly.
At the CONCACAF regional futsal finals in Guatemala, the U.S. failed to qualify when they fell to Canada 3-1 on May 1 and finished third in its group. In Group B, Costa Rica finished with 7 points, one ahead of Canada, with the U.S. third with 4 points and Honduras bottom with 0, failing to score in all three games and allowing 19 goals.
In Group A, Mexico won all three games to finish in first with 9 points, while Panama was second with 6 points, host side nation Guatemala had 3 points and Cuba had 0 points, scoring only 4 goals and allowing 19.
In the semifinals, Panama defeated Costa Rica 3-1 while Canada and Mexico tied 4-4, with the Maple Leafs advancing on penalties 4-3. In the final Canada blasted Panama 8-2. Esther Brossard of Canada won the Golden Boot title with 8 goals with Guatemala’s Grecia Santizo second with six goals.
When Esther Brossard found out that Canada was launching a women's futsal team, the 18-year-old wrote to newly appointed coach Alexandre Da Rocha to volunteer. Da Rocha already had penciled her into his team but was still impressed by her proactiveness. Da Roche had previously coached women as Head Coach of the Canadian Women’s Team at the 2018 FISU World University Games and as Assistant Coach for the U-20 Women’s National Team during the 2012 World Cup in Japan.
At the club level, he was the Head Coach of Xtreme Montreal in the W-League from 2003 to 2004. Brossard was the youngest player at that first camp. Brossard took up futsal in high school in Montreal, joining a local club at the age of 15 and playing over the winter. She is currently a sophomore at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and plays outdoors soccer as well. She was also invited to camp with the Canadian under-20 team in February as a training player ahead of the 2025 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Qualifiers.
Alexandre Da Rocha hopes his side will be able to play some games in Europe before the FIFA finals tournament. The Canadian performance in Guatemala is especially impressive given that Da Rocha’s team has not played any international games prior to the competition. Da Rocha explained that the lack of friendly games: “Gave us maybe a little slower start in the first game,” as they lost to Costa Rica 3-2. They then won their next four games:
Da Rocha added: “This team just grew so much throughout those five games we had in six days. They bonded so well. They committed to what they had to do, showed so much resilience and character.” On the women’s side, Canada could make history in the Philippines by winning a medal at the inaugural women’s tournament, something which has not been done in the past on the men’s side (see below).
Note: FIFA held the first Futsal Men’s World Cup in 1989 and the 2028 edition will feature 24 teams. Defending champion Brazil has won six of the 10 tournaments to date, finishing runner-up once and third twice. Canada has not participated in the men’s finals since being one of the 16 invited countries for the inaugural men's tournament, failing to advance out of the first round after losing to Argentina and Belgium before downing Japan. There have been eight editions of the CONCACAF Men’s Futsal Championship, with Canada participating in four of them. Canada’s best showing was making the quarterfinals, in both 2021 and 2024.
FIFA has been discussing starting an international futsal World Cup for over a decade, in part to help grow the game where women were limited in playing options outdoor, particularly in Iran and some countries in West Asia—where women had to wear full body coverings (tracksuit bottoms, jerseys and, in some cases, hijabs) when playing. It is notable that, in the AFC qualifiers for this first women’s futsal World Cup, Iran defeated China 3-1 in the third place match to qualify for their first ever women’s senior FIFA finals in Hohhot in Inner Mongolia, China.
Captain Nasimeh Gholami (40) and Maral Torkaman (22), who plays with Palayesh Naft Abadan team in the Iranian Women’s Futsal Premier League—which was founded in 2003—had two assists and goals respectively; Torkaman won the Golden Boot with six goals at the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup.
Their head coach, Forouzan Soleimani (55) said: “This World Cup qualification is a credit to all of women’s futsal in Iran and is invaluable for them. It is a huge community full of girls and women who love futsal, all across Iran and in provinces far away from the cities, and they play with passion and love.” Iran was one of the leaders in implementing the games about two decades before and now has around 100 teams in three divisions. Women’s Futsal is played in leagues in all 32 provinces in the countries.
Specifically, about the win over China, Soleimani said: “We knew how China would play and we asked our players to play powerfully and with high pressure; the match was very hard, but we were more experienced and created more opportunities, which led to our victory.”
Iran had won the two previous Women’s Asian finals, in 2015 in Malaysia and 2018 in Thailand (a 2020 event scheduled for Kuwait was cancelled due to COVID) so their loss 3-2 loss to Japan on May 15—who went on to win the tournament title with a 3-2 win on penalties over Thailand after a 3-3 tie in regulation time—was a disappointment to the Iranian players but they bounced back nicely to clinch the last FIFA Finals spot two days later against China.
2024-25 A League Playoff Semifinals and Final
We previously discussed the first round of the 2024-25 A-League Playoffs (see our column earlier this month: The Week in Women's Football: Exclusive with Ann Odong; P2 A-League review - TribalFootball.com). In the two leg semifinals, Melbourne Victory defeated Adelaide United 6-2 on aggregate, after a pair of 3-1 wins in Adelaide, on May 4 in front of 4,372 fans, and then in Melbourne on May 10 with a crowd of 1,314 watching. New Zealand international Claudia Bunge (25) scored a brace in the first game, joining the Victory this season again after playing a season in Denmark with Koge.
In the other semifinals, Central Coast Mariners tied Melbourne City 2-2 on May 3 in the first game in New South Wales. Most followers of the Australian league fully expected Melbourne City to win the return home leg, as they had been undefeated all season in the league and the first semifinal match (24 consecutive league and playoff games, not including four Asian Champion League match victories this season) since a May 4 Grand Final 1-0 defeat to Sydney last season.
In one of the most shocking playoff results ever in the league’s history, the Mariners advanced over the last two Premiership title winners with a goal in the 121st minute of overtime by Isabel Gomez (22), her sixth tally of the season for the former WSW and Wellington Phoenix player.
Mariner Head Coach Emily Husband—who has taken the Mariners to the playoffs in both of her seasons in Gosford and should be a strong candidate for Ninja A-League coach of the year—made a key tactical change in the match after City had American winger Lourdes Bosch (23)—who scored four goals in 23 matches—receive a straight red card in the 25th minute for striking out at the face of the Mariner’s English import Brooke Nunn after the ball had gone out on the sideline. Seven minutes earlier, striker and Golden Boot winner Holly McNamara (22) was substituted after a heavy but completely unintentional collision with Mariners’ keeper Sarah Langman (29), when both were going for the ball.
Mariners had planned that City would dominate possession but at 10 players, the road side had to adjust to being the primary attacking side, while City retreated deeply into defense. In the 58th minute, Husband made a double substitution, first with captain Taren King (28) coming on for right back Sarah Rowe; King then played center back and Taylor Ray (24) moved to the right side. Ray is in her first season with the Mariners after winning three league titles and finishing runner-up on four other occasions in seven seasons at Sydney FC and was capped once by the Matildas in 2022.
The second sub was Tess Quilligan (20), on in place of fellow midfielder Greta Kraszula (22), in order to play a deeper role in order to control the tempo of the game and free up creative midfielder Isabel Gomez to move forward. Husband explained to Network 10 after the game: “Tess is phenomenal on the ball. That’s one of her biggest qualities. She’s so good, she’s able to connect anything, and technically, she’s so clean. So, this is the type of game that suits her really well when we have time on the ball. So, for me, we knew that immediately when the game changed, that was one of the changes we needed to make.” Husband coached Quilligan during her time as head coach of Sydney University in the NPLW before signing her last October at Central Coast.
On Gomez’s second overtime injury-time winner, to this reporter, she appeared to be 3-5 meters offside when she broke in alone into the box to lob City keeper and Spanish youth international Malena Mieres (25) just before penalty kicks were due to break the tie. Melbourne City boss Michael Matricciani said he thought Gomez was: “clearly” offside.
He added: “Look to be fair, I didn’t even need to see the footage back, because live, even from a 45 degree angle, I could see clearly that it was offside. Look, for me, you can’t blame anyone. Obviously we don’t have VAR in our league, and these are the mistakes that sort of happen. But when the girl’s three or four meters offside, it’s tough to take. But this is football, hopefully they learn from it as well—the linesmen and referees… Obviously this is football; we have to learn from our moments, especially Lourdes (Bosch), who definitely needs to learn. She’s let our team down here. But in that the girls showed enormous grit, so very disappointing, but super proud…I thought over the 120 minutes, I still felt we were the better side. I felt we were fitter and stronger.”
City missed a chance to capture the double in the Premiership and League titles but later this month will have a chance to become Asian Club Champions in the last four (see: The Week in Women's Football: Part 2 - Off-season ins/outs for NWSL; Linda Pizzuti Boston blow - TribalFootball.com).
For the final, Melbourne Victory head coach Jeff Hopkins has been with the club since the 2016-17 season and is iconic in the game—a true visionary who has given so much time to the growth of the game, including helping the Afghanistan women’s refugee team in Melbourne for the past few years; he has won two Grand Finals at MV, with the club winning three all-time and losing in one final prior to 2024-25. Hopkins has won four Grand Finals between his time with Melbourne and at Brisbane Roar, when the league started in 2008-09.
However, the Central Coast Mariners captured their first league title with a 5-4 penalty kick win after a 1-1 tie following 120 minutes of play. Isabel Gomez scored again, just after the second half restart, to give the Mariners the lead. Melbourne fought back with a Claudia Bunge goal in a goalmouth scramble ten minutes from the end of regulation time. Melbourne netted once in the first half and again late in the second half, but both were waived off for offsides until Bunge knotted the scores.
In penalty kicks, Melbourne won the coin toss and elected to go first, for which statistics show there is a slight advantage. However, Australian youth international Alana Jancevski—who scored five goals in 25 games this season—thumped the ball onto the crossbar. No one missed after that, though Gomez—named the Player of the Championship match—slipped as she took her shot but the bouncing ball still made it into the net. Bianca Galac (26)—who decided to join Croatia for internationals (see our column last month: The Week in Women's Football: Reviewing A-League season before finals - TribalFootball.com) scored the championship winning penalty kick for the Mariners’ first league title in only their second year back in the league and fourth overall—having made the playoffs on three occasions.
Emily Husband—the English native who played collegiately in the States at the University of Texas-Brownsville—has really impressed throughout her two seasons at Mariners. She builds a strong relationship with her players and fellow coaches—she should definitely be considered for future openings for the Australian national teams’ program. Gomez may be off to play abroad as, during the post-game presser, she was asked if she would be returning to Gosford next season and replied: “There’s a lot of options, so I’m still unsure where I’m headed.” I do think she will have some significant offers this summer and could find herself with a top club in England, France or Spain. If so, we wish her all the best as she has had a fantastic season with the Mariners.
England’s Top Three Tiers—Champions and Relegated Sides
In the Women’s Super League, Chelsea won the title again for the sixth consecutive season (eighth title overall) and became the first team to ever go unbeaten in a 22-match WSL season (19-3-0 W-D-L for 60 points). English international Lucy Bronze’s 74th-minute header goal from French international Sandy Baltimore’s corner was all that the champions needed to defeat Manchester United 1-0 at the end of April and clinch the title. The Blues then won their last two games of the season, 1-0 over Tottenham away and 1-0 at home against Liverpool.
The WSL title came in former Olympique Lyonnaise head coach Sonia Bompastor’s (who won 156 caps for France as a midfielder in 13 years) first season in charge after replacing former manager Emma Hayes, who now leads the American WNT and won 14 titles in 12 seasons at the London club. This season, Bompastor’s side also won the League Cup, defeating Manchester City 2-1, and made the final of the FA Cup versus Man U, coached by former Orlando Pride manager Mark Skinner, winning that title as well following a 3-0 win at Wembley on May 18. Only two teams previously have won the domestic treble since the WSL era began in 2011 (Arsenal in 2011 and Chelsea in 2020-21).
In the FA Cup Final, in front of a fantastic crowd of 74,412 at Wembley Stadium, Chelsea clinched the 2024-25 domestic treble with a 3-0 defeat of Manchester United. French international Sandy Baltimore (25) scored from the penalty spot just before the half-time break after Norwegian international Celin Bizet (23) fouled Scottish international Erin Cuthbert (26) in the box. Baltimore then scored a second goal in the 91st minute after Brazilian-born U.S. international Catarina Macario (25) added Chelsea’s second goal in the 84th minute. Last season, Man United won the FA Cup with a 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on May 12, 2024.
Manchester United head coach Mark Skinner said after the match: “I love my team, but I think you can see the difference. You just look at the changes with substitutions. It’s a totally different level of experience; we need that experience and quality, to really make a difference. I have to find Manchester United’s way in the summer.” Skinner surprisingly left English international Ella Toone on the bench but she came on at half-time and was not able spark a comeback.
This game was watched by Chelsea’ new board member—Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian—who was at Wembley with wife Serena Williams. Ohanian a few days before had announced a U.S.$26.5 million investment in the women’s side. Ohanian was one of the original founders of Angel City FC in the NWSL. The Americans watched the game and celebrated after the game in the owners’ box—maybe a lesson there for London City owner Michele Kang (see below).
Bompastor said about the conclusion to her first season: “It feels great. In the beginning I was one of those who thought it was really difficult to be an elite manager and a mum. But because I had, in my environment, people who gave me the opportunity to have that balance, I started to believe it was possible. Just to give the opportunity to my kids (she has four) to live these moments at Wembley. I want to be a woman who sets an example for other women. Live your dreams and believe you have the talent to be in that position and just go for it.”
The one downside to the season was Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinal demolishing by Barcelona 8-2 on aggregate. Bompastor said about the Barcelona matches: “We were really disappointed... You could see in both games against Barcelona; we were not ready to compete against them. I want to play in a way where I show my ambitions, so in those two games we were really high on the pitch. We wanted to hurt them and we didn’t succeed. The margin between us and them is still big.”
Unfortunately, though Chelsea management is patient, Bompastor will be judged on Chelsea eventually winning the WCL to become only the second English side to capture the title, after Arsenal in 2007. Arsenal is in the WCL Final this season and faces Barca, though they looked very good in knocking Lyon out of the semifinals, overcoming a 2-1 loss at home in the first leg to defeat Lyon in France 4-1 and take the tie 5-3 on aggregate.
Bompastor has utilized a large base of players that she inherited from Emma Hayes. Australian WNT striker Sam Kerr missed the season with an ACL injury suffered in early 2024, but she did bring in Lucy Bronze after two seasons in Spain with Barcelona and Sandy Baltimore from PSG for 2024-25. Chelsea also brought in U.S. international defender Naomi Girma in January from the San Diego Wave, who became the first $1 million transfer in women’s football history. English international midfielder Kiera Walsh was also acquired from Barcelona in January, though both have missed games with some injuries since coming to Chelsea, but they added to Chelsea’s immense depth in order to be able to compete for four major English and UEFA titles each season.
Arsenal (48 points) pipped Manchester United (44 points) for second after a 4-3 victory on the final match day. Manchester City (43 points) missed out this season on a WCL spot for 2025-26 by one point. Crystal Palace of South London was relegated in their first ever WSL season after a 2-4-16 (W-D-L) record for 10 points. Crystal Palace confirmed their relegation from the WSL1 after one season with a 7-1 loss to West Ham (who finished in ninth place with 23 points) on April 27 at home as the Hammers German youth international Shekiera Martinez (23) scored four consecutive goals—three in the first half.
Palace were bottom of the league in scoring with 20 goals scored and allowed the most in the league with 65. Their -45 goal difference was more than double the next worst side, eleventh place Tottenham at -18. American veteran forward Katie Stengel (33) and English forward Annabel Blanchard (24) tied for the team lead in goals with four each.
On May 4, London City tied second place Birmingham City 2-2 to win the Championship and promotion to WSL1 next season, making history as the first independent franchise to play in the league, but their owner Michele Kang took over everyone’s attention as she appeared on the field and grabbed the trophy even before it was officially handed over to the team. Viewers had to imagine that she was thinking: “It’s mine, mine, mine, it’s all mine.”
Then, when team captain and Swedish international Kosovare Asllani was presented the trophy, Kang lifted it with her. Watching the celebrations on television, I thought that it was a poor form and Kang’s refusal to take off her sunglasses just added to the farce. Kang’s hogging the limelight sucked a lot of attention away from what was a stirring and vital match, in which one more goal would have given Birmingham City the title at home at St. Andrews in front of a good crowd of 8,749 fans. It also sent a really bad message that the title win was all about Kang as it was her title and not the players’ and coaching staffs’. Kang did the same thing on May 10 in Chicago after her Spirit defeated the Stars 3-2, coming onto the field front and center in front of the cameras. Kang’s motto should be “Be a Winner, not a Loser.”
I will have to look for her on the field after the next loss by one of her teams—I did not see her on the field after Lyon’s WCL semifinal loss to Arsenal. Maybe she just does this after road wins—either way., it is a condescending move to her teams. Kang, who also owns Olympique Lyonnaise and the Washington Spirit, has invested heavily into U.S. Soccer’s women’s program, and women’s football in general. It’s sad that she is so insistent that everyone knows how important she is to women’s football.
Kang bought London City in December 2023 as it was close to being liquidated and invested heavily into the team. Kang explained the rapid turnaround: “When I first came to England and bought London City, a lot of people were concerned for me. They were saying, ‘How can she do this? You need a men’s team to draw the brand power, fanbase and resources – an independent team can’t do it.’ Well, we are the proof that with the proper investment and focus, anything is possible.” English youth international Isobel Goodwin (22) was signed for the championship’s record fee and was a stellar selection, leading the Championship (which will be branded officially next season as WSL 2) with 16 goals.
The signings of team captain Kosovare Asllani and fellow Swedish international Sofia Jakobsson, both 35-years-old, were questioned, even by a long-time Swedish media follower of the women’s game, who wondered why they both dropped down to play in Division 2. My answer at the time was that it was a Michele Kang project and she wanted to move up to WSL as soon as possible. After the title was clinched, at the London City website you can download a screensaver to celebrate the team, showing the players and head coach—with Kang’s head larger than anyone and smack in the middle. I think we will pass.
London City finished with a 13-4-3 record for 43 points, two points ahead of the Blues. London City started the match two points clear of their hosts and they knew a draw or win would send them up, while Birmingham would be promoted if they won. London City built up a 2-0 lead within the first 15 minutes of the second half with a goal by the league Golden Boot winner Izzy Goodwin (with 16 goals, one ahead of Jamaican international and English youth international Shania Hayles (25) of Newcastle United) and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah (29), an English youth international who debuted for Ghana’s senior WNT in April. Birmingham fought back to deadlock the match in the 86th minute through goal by Australian international Emily Van Egmond (31—with over 150 caps) and Cho So-hyun (36), who has over 150 caps for Korea Republic. London City was able to hang on, even with ten minutes of stoppage time added on, to gain the crucial standing point that they needed.
Jocelyn Prêcheur, London City’s head coach, said: “We want to do something different. It’s tough, because when you don’t have the men’s side’s support, you start from scratch. That’s why this first year has been so tough. But if we can prove that a women’s side can exist independently, I think and hope it will inspire many people to create a really independent women’s football.” Prêcheur was coaching at PSG in France a year ago and had the team in the WCL semifinals; he was very pleased that the team won promotion for the team’s owner: “I was so satisfied to give her this gift, because people cannot really realise what she’s doing right now for women’s football. She’s really changing the game.”
Of course, if Birmingham had won the game, Prêcheur probably would have been out of a job, as Michele Kang is not known as particularly tolerant of coaches who lose. In the Women’s Champions League, we expect first year Olympique Lyon head coach Joe Montemurro to be let go this summer (see more below), after his team caved in the 2024-25 Women’s Champions League semifinals to his former club Arsenal, which was their only loss of the season.
Mark Parsons was ditched in Washington after only one season in 2023 when the Spirit missed the playoffs by one point—you think that his record early in the NWSL years in Washington and great success in six years in Portland would have bought him more time? Not on Kang’s timeline. Next year will be interesting for London City, based in Hayes, Bromley, particularly as the two most recent promotion sides to the WSL—Crystal Palace and Bristol City—went straight back down to the Championship the next season.
Dropping down from the Championship to tier three was Sheffield United. Third-tier Northern and Southern division champions, Nottingham Forest and Ipswich Town respectively, won their leagues and promotion to the Championship. There are two teams being promoted to the Championship despite only one going down from the Championship, because of Reading’s late withdrawal from the second tier last summer. Forest last played in the top women’s tier for two seasons in the FA Women’s Premier League in 2008-09 and 2009-10, and was last in Division 2 in 2011-12; they have played in Division 3 since. Ipswich played in the Women’s Premier Lague (Div 1 in 1991) and has been at the Division 3 South Level since 1993-94.
Note: Wolves Women now will apply for WSL2 status in the future
As a postscript to our column last week describing how Wolverhampton Women’s management did not apply for promotion to Division 2, even though the team was in the championship race through the last game of the season and never told the players: The Week in Women's Football: A second division in US; bizarre Wolves; Minnesota to go pro - TribalFootball.com, the Wolves management now say that they will apply for WSL II status every year going forward. Undoubtedly this was due to the hugely negative press and criticism from fans (as well as their own players). The problem remains in that the original decision was likely due to wanting to avoid the increased financial demands as they move up the pyramid.
The cost of moving up would require commitments to spend a reported additional US$2 million. In a statement, Wolves Chairman Jeff Shi said: “Wolves Women remains a vital part of our football family, and we are committed to building a sustainable, competitive future for the team. We know the women’s set-up requires strengthening, and we’ve already begun addressing that. Our plan includes building a stronger foundation across key areas such as commercial, financial, marketing and sporting operations, to ensure Wolves Women has the infrastructure needed to thrive. Moving forward, we will apply for the tier-two license on an annual basis in line with our sporting achievements, and ensure that every on-pitch achievement is supported by the right procedures and documentation. We believe Wolves Women can continue to progress—and that belief will be backed by improved structure, support, communication and leadership. That’s what we are committing to putting in place.”
Will they be willing to commit to that and to make their players full-time professionals? No—that’s not part of the Wolves plan, saying that they want to have spots available for local players. Without the financial commitment to players, it handicaps the squad as they attempt to gain promotion in 2025-26 or beyond. Staying in Division 3 seems to be the ultimate goal of management. They promised transparency moving ahead, but it is hard to believe anything they say that refutes their lack of commitment to their very dedicated group of players.
Lyon wins League title again in France, Paris FC wins the Cup with PSG runners-up for both titles.
The French Premiere Ligue playoff semifinals for the top four regular season teams held to form as, on May 11, top seeded Lyon—undefeated in 22 games with 62 points on a 20-2-0 record—defeated Dijon (43 points) 4-1 while Paris Saint-Germain (52 points) was second and defeated third place Paris FC (45 points) 3-0, with the top three making next year’s Women’s Champions League.
Paris FC has done well of late in the WCL, making the 16 team group stage in 2023-24 after knocking out past champions Arsenal and Wolfsburg in the Qualifying Rounds. In the league final, on May 16, Olympique Lyonnaise won the league title in the playoff final by defeating Paris St. Germain 3-0. Haitian international Melchie Dumornay (21) scored late in the first half along with second half goals by French internationals Kadidiatou Diani (30) in the 80th minute and Wendie Renard (34)—who was born in Martinique in the Caribbean—from the penalty spot four minutes into second half injury time, for the three time defending champions, as they captured their fourth title in a row. It was their record 18th title in 19 years with PSG interrupting the streak in 2020-21.
Dumornay was second in the Golden Boot rase during the regular season with 15 goals in 18 matches, behind Clara Mateo (27) of Paris FC, who had 18 goals in 20 matches. Mateo’s Paris FC teammate and French international forward Kessya Bussy (23) was tied for fourth with 11 goals with American international midfielder Lindsey Heaps (30), with both one behind 50 + caps French international Maria-Antoinette Katoto (26) of PSG with 12 goals, who finished third.
In the 2024-25 French Cup, defending champions PSG fell to Paris FC 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 0-0, which was held one week ahead of their league playoff semifinal. The loss cost PSG head coach Fabrice Abriel, who played for PSG’s men’s side as a midfielder, his job two days later. In September, PSG lost to Juventus in the second round of the UEFA WCL second round, which probably didn’t help matters. Brazilian Paulo Cesar, a former PSG player and ex-coach of PSG’s U-19 women’s team, took over on an interim basis.
Bizarrely, in the Cup final played in Calais in front of good crowd of 8,108 for a neutral-site game, Abriel left two of the team’s stars—French internationals Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Sakina Karchaoui—on the bench, with both coming on after the hour mark. Karchaoui had been benched in previous matches after an interview in which she described her preference for previous coach Jocelyn Precheur (now at London City—see above), who told French sports daily L’Equipe: “I don’t have the same affinity (with Abriel) I had with Jocelyn, to be honest. So, I work differently.”
(Interestingly, Karchaoui started the semifinal a week later against PFC and scored the second goal in the 55th minute). Paris FC won 5-4 on penalties after six rounds, with veteran French international Clara Mateo (27) missing in the second round while American Korbin Albert (21) and French international wing-back Jade Le Guilly (22) failed to score for PSG in the fourth and sixth rounds, respectively.
Nigerian international goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie (24), in her fifth season with the club, saved both of those penalty attempts by PSG to help her club win the title for the first time as Paris FC, which became part of the Paris FC men’s side in 2017-18 after being founded in 1971 as Juvisy, which won one Women’s French Cup and six league titles from 1991-92 through 2005-06. Nnadozie is the reigning African Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year and made a string of important saves during the game. This season, she had 12 clean sheets for Paris FC, who with their third place finish again qualified for next season’s UEFA WCL. She is expected to more to the WSL with Everton over the summer. On the same weekend, Paris FC’s men’s side was promoted to the Franch Ligue, returning for the first time in 46 years.
Besides Nandozie, their imports were:
Defender Deja Davis (29) of the U.S., who played the previous seven seasons with Le Harve, helping the team move from Division 3 into Division 1 during that spell. He played at La Salle University in Philadelphia. She was called into the U-23 side for the U.S. in 2022. She played in 19 games this season.
Midfielder Kaja Korosec (23) of Slovenia is in her second season with Paris FC and won three league titles at home with Pomurje. She scored two goals in 21 regular season games in 2024-25.
Australian midfielder Sarah Hunter (21) did not play in the Cup Final but did appear in 10 regular season matches. In two seasons with Sydney FC, she won a league title and finished runner-up in the championship. She has been capped once by the Matildas.
For PSG, the import-laden squad had three Americans, two from Poland, two from the Netherlands and one each from Nigeria and England—goalkeeper Mary Earps, who did not play in the Cup Final, after playing in 22 matches during her first season in France following five seasons with Man United, after finishing second with England at the 2023 WWC Finals.
On May 20, Olympique Lyonnais Féminin announced a branding and name change—which yet again puts their owner Michele Kang into the spotlight. On May 20, the team announced that they will be known as OL Lyonnes, dovetailing nicely with her London Lionesses name. Kang bought the Lyon women’s side in 2024. Michele Kang explained the reason for the change: “This is not about just a name change and some graphic changes. This is really to redefine what’s possible for women’s football.” It also helps to separate the club from the OL men’s side, which they are now independent from.
The team will play all of their games in the Groupama Stadium next season, which seats 59,186 and hosted the 2019 WWC Final match. In the past the women’s side played most of their games at the club’s training stadium. The men’s side averaged 51,000 in the 2024-25 season while the Premier Ligue Feminine final attracted only 11,000 fans. Kang is also building a new training center in Meyzieu, for the OL Lyonnes first team, reserves and youth academy. To her credit, she is expanding the profile of the top women’s team in the country, as many men’s side are seriously questioning their commitment to their women’s sides as the teams contract their budgets because their media revenues continue to cave over the past few years, compared to other leagues in Europe.
Stade de Reims (15 points) and Guingamp (9 points) were relegated to Ligue Seconde, while Olympique Marseille and Lens—both on 45 points—are guaranteed of promotion to the Premiere League. There are two games left in Ligue Seconde and the two teams are battling for the league championship title.
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 X: @TimGrainey