Women's Football

W-League - New Zealand’s first professional women’s football team

Just last week, the Australian Professional League (APL) announced that three expansion teams were set to join the W-League, with the plans to increase teams in the league from 9 to 12. The decision was made in order to further interest in women's football in Australia and New Zealand, particularly given the fact the FIFA Women's World Cup will be hosted by both nations in 2023.

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AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 - Matchday 2 Review

It was another Matchday of goals, impressive defensive performances and unfortunate news in that hosts India had to withdraw from the competition, due to positive cases of COVID-19. The action gets back underway on Wednesday 26th January, so before that, let's review Match 2

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AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 - Matchday 1 Review

The first round of WAC fixtures got underway on Thursday and Friday, with some surprise results, important draws and emphatic wins by the competition favourites. There's still two matches left in the Group Stage for teams to make a push to secure a place in the quarter-finals. But before the second round of games begins, let's review the action from round one!

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AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 Preview

Today is the day that we will see the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup get underway in India. With the tournament being expanded from eight teams to twelve teams for the first time, meaning five teams can gain direct qualification to the 2023 Women's World Cup through the knockout stage. Whereas, two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. 

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WE.League - Matchweek 2 Review

Another weekend of WE.League and another weekend of entertainment. It was fantastic to see also that league attendances were roughly the same as those on the opening day fixtures, with over 14,000 fans in the stadiums. This in a time where Japan is still being affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and fan attendance being capped to 5000 capacity. 

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WE.League - Foreign Players

The WE League has ambitions to become a platform in the Asia/Pacific region for female footballers across the world. After winning the 2011 World Cup, the interest in the Japan Women's National Team and Women's domestic league did show signs of promise, however in subsequent years it has shown a decline in interest and in order to compete with countries high up the FIFA World Rankings, the league has set out objectives in revive football in the country and inspire the next generations.

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WE.League - History Made

Sunday 12th September marked history for women's football and the start of change in Japan. After years of planning, developing and sacrifice, the WE League finally got underway in what is Japan's first professional football league. 

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WE.League - Curtain Rise

466 days since its announcement, the WE.League is set to get underway tomorrow in what is a momentous and historic achievement in womens football in Japan. 

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Football Firsts - Chinese National Team players sign for two UK Clubs

It was announced today that Celtic FC Women had signed Shen Mengyu from Chinese Women's Super League side, Shanghai Shengli. This signing has made history, as Shen Mengyu is the first Chinese women's footballer to play in the UK. But only a few minutes after this announcement, Tottenham Hotspur Women announced the signing of Tang Jiali also from Shanghai Shengli, on loan for the 2021/2022 season. 

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WE.League - Japan's first professional Women's football league

In June 2020, the Japan Football Association announced the formation of a new top-flight professionals women's football league, known as the WE League (Women's Empowerment League). One of the requirements of the WE League is that each team must have at least five players signed to fully professional contracts that are not subject to a salary cap.

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WE.League - 2021/2022 Uniforms

With the WE.League set to get underway in just under a months time, I thought we could take a look at the kits (or uniforms as Japan prefers to call them) for this upcoming 21/22 season.

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