Who is winning the Women’s Super League? After thinking their title hopes were ruined, Arsenal helped Chelsea rejunvinate their dream of sending Emma Hayes off with ONE trophy at least, as the North London side beat Manchester City last weekend. This is setting us up for an exciting last round as Chelsea, who will play Manchester United in the last game, are on equal points with City, who are playing Aston Villa. Chelsea are ahead on goal difference, after putting an impressive eight goals past already-relegated Bristol City and City are without their star striker Bunny Shaw.
Speaking of … even though her last game was a month ago, due to a foot injury she sustained in the game against West Ham - where she scored twice - Bunny Shaw is still the UNDISPUTED golden boot winner, with 21 goals in 18 games. She was also voted player of the season 🌟
Before the season started, everyone were unanimous in their conviction and belief that BK Häcken was going to win the league this season.
After six games played it is Rosengård and Hammarby who are topping the league with 18 pts each, having won all their games so far. Häcken, meanwhile, is trailing behind after recording a loss to Rosengård and a draw with Linköping. This weekend is a good opportunity for Häcken to catch up a little bit, as the two top teams are playing each other on Monday night at 19:00 (CET).
The U17 Euros is wrapping up this weekend in Lund and Malmö with two mouth-watering fixtures: France will play Poland for third place (and a spot at the U17 World Cup in October), after that it’s England-Spain in a replay of last summer’s World Cup final.
It’s been two exciting tournament weeks, displaying some of the exciting talent coming up through the ranks. It’s also been effective in highlighting the countries who are making strides with their youth sides and who will need to put in another gear.
France - Poland, kicks off at at 13:00 (CET). The final, England - Spain, kicks off at 17:00 (CET) and the games can be watched on BBC (UK) and the Uefa TV app.
Olympique Lyon won the league yesterday (Friday), emerging victourious in their playoff final against Paris Saint-Germain. The league has introduced a new playoff format, in use for the first time this season, in which the league wraps up and the top four teams go into a mini-tournament of their own to determine who wins the league, with a semifinal and a final. Despite having suffered a surprise loss to Bordeux the week before, Reims and PSG proved no match for Lyon who claimed their 17th league title before looking to win their ninth Champions League title next weekend against Barcelona in a replay of the 2022 final.
A SIDE NOTE:
We finally know who will host the World Cup in 2027! Decided by an open vote for the first time, Brazil beat the joint bid of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. This is really exciting because:
FIFA have taken their sweet time deciding the host of the next World Cup (a decision which for the men’s WC is taken years before the next WC is even played)
It has fed into a destructive cycle of the organisers lacking preparation and finally, three years out, plans can be made
This is the first time the women’s World Cup will be hosted in a South American country!