The latest news from women’s football in the UK and around the rest of the world over the last week.
Mobile incident causes Neville to make another public apology
England Women’s manager Phil Neville has been forced to apologise after being caught on his mobile phone while overtaking another car on the M6 between junction 16 and 17 in Staffordshire.
The Lionesses boss was filmed on his phone in his Mercedes on Wednesday afternoon and the police are now reviewing the footage of the incident.
In a statement after the news broke out, Neville said: “I fully recognise the importance of driver awareness and road safety and sincerely apologise.”
Guernsey girl plays in boys’ under-16 match to make history
In a historic moment for women’s sport, Maya Le Tissier, an England youth footballer, became the first female to play in a male under-16 match on Saturday.
The 15-year-old, who is not related to Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier, started the match for Guernsey, in an annual game against rivals Jersey. Le Tissier has so far captained the England Under-15 and Under-16 sides and plays with male teams at under-16 and under-18 level.
Chelsea beat off Liverpool and the weather to reach FA Cup semi-finals
On a weekend where three out of the four Women’s FA Cup quarter-final matches were postponed, Chelsea Ladies eased past Liverpool Ladies to secure their passage into the last four of the competition.
Chelsea ran out 3-0 victors in the end, courtesy of goals from Joanna Andersson, Katie Chapman and a Maren Mjelde spot kick. Elsewhere in the cup, Arsenal v Charlton, Durham v Everton and Sunderland v Manchester City – were all postponed because of the latest bout of snow.
Arsenal dig deep to claim fifth Continental Tyres Cup victory
Arsenal Women recorded a 1-0 win in a tight contest against Manchester City Women, to secure a record-breaking fifth Continental Tyres Cup on Wednesday night.
Manchester City, who were the holders of the cup, were strong favourites heading into the match – but Vivianne Miedema scored the only goal of the game to ensure that the Gunners lifted the trophy.
FIFA plans to launch women’s global league
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is set to ask members of his executive council to approve the governing bodies plans for a new global women’s league.
The competition would be between 16 of the world’s best women’s national teams and it could potentially begin as early as November next year.
In addition to this, FIFA also plans to add four regional leagues, in order to encourage the development of the women’s game globally. There will also be a chance for the best performers from those regions to gain a chance to win promotion to the top division in a promotion and relegation system.
Under the format, the 16 teams will be divided into four groups and play in mini tournaments, with the winners facing off in the semi-finals and then a final to determine a champion.
Steffi Jones gets Germany axe
Germany have sacked the head coach of the women’s national team, Steffi Jones, after a dismal SheBelieves Cup showing, in which her side failed to win a single game.
The German’s also failed to make it beyond the quarter-finals of last year’s Women’s European Championship, which is a tournament they have previously won eight times. Jones has now been replaced by ex-international striker Horst Hrubesch, who takes charge on an interim basis.
African football associations must focus mandates on women’s game
Ria Ledwaba, a member of the South African Football Association National Executive Committee, has stated that the only way to take women’s football forward in Africa is to ensure that it becomes a primary part of the mandates of African football associations.
The comments from Ledwaba come after the recent groundbreaking Confederation of African Football women’s symposium in Morocco.
Speaking to Soccer Laduma, Ledwaba said: “The only way for us to advance women’s football in Africa is to ensure that as FA’s our mandates must focus on women’s football from every level.
“As I have said I sincerely believe that our programmes must be focused towards schools where football programmes for girls must be made mandatory. This way we can ensure that our girls get the right development throughout their schooling and amateur levels until they become professionals.
“We need to take women’s football on the continent seriously and put the same level of focus and strategy as we do in the men’s game. If we can do this we will make the women’s game attractive to investors.”
African Women’s Cup of Nations gets government go ahead
The Ghanian government has approved an $8 million grant so that the 13th edition of the African Women’s Cup of Nations can be organised and go ahead in Ghana later this year.
The tournament is set to take place between November 17th and December 1st and will feature eight of the best female football countries on the African continent.
