Arsenal’s Eidevall fumes at ‘amateurish’ WPLL over Chelsea match mess | Women’s Super League

Jonas Eidevall has accused Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd (WPLL), the body that runs the Women’s Super League, of ‘amateurish behaviour’ and called for more attention to be paid to teams competing in Europe after it canceled Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Manchester United had been postponed because the former plays in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The fixtures for the European matches have been known for a year and the possibility of three English teams reaching the group stage was a likely scenario, yet Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City were all set to play on Sunday, ahead of a possible European match on Tuesday. fixture. With UEFA unwilling to budge on their long-term planning, the WPLL, who also run the Women’s Championship, took the decision to postpone Manchester United’s sold-out visit to Kingsmeadow to take on the current WSL champions.

The move means Chelsea will have a free weekend before their home match against Real Madrid on Tuesday, and before they face Arsenal in the WSL next Saturday. Meanwhile, Arsenal play Everton on Sunday and Bayern Munich on Wednesday, giving them an extra game before hosting Sonia Bompastor’s side in the Emirates, as well as one less day to prepare after their Champions League match.

“It’s not good enough to blame UEFA because everyone in Europe has had the same information for so long, and the only one that hasn’t acted on that information is the WSL,” Eidevall said. “This amateurish behavior, without having a proactive plan and taking a game away from Chelsea, now puts us in a situation where we play on Sunday and away against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Those who don’t play on Sunday will play on Saturday because they have a league organization that sees the value in putting their top teams in a better position – and then we return on Saturday against Chelsea in the Emirates. We have considerably less preparation time than our opponents and so we will suffer this sporting disadvantage in two major matches.”

Eidevall also questioned a “lack of clarity and transparency” over the decision-making and wondered when the match would be rescheduled. “For me, everything should be as fair as possible, that’s how we compete, not only in football, but in life in general,” he said. “It’s so hard for me to understand when you postpone a game and you give sports benefits to another team (that you) still have no idea when that game is going to be played.

“Who decides when that match will be played? What considerations are there? Will that match even be played after this transfer period? Will that be played after the next transfer period? … what you do is you change the order that was decided before the competition (started).”

The manager also criticized the initial Sunday scheduling of all matches of likely Champions League participants. “Of the sixteen teams (competing in the Champions League group stage), thirteen teams would play on Friday or Saturday and the three English teams would all play on Sunday, with each team having a 50% chance. of playing their game on a Tuesday. That is the information that has been out there for months,” he said.

“Does the league want English club teams to be successful at European level? I hope the answer to that is yes, but the action shows otherwise. It shows that this is not one of their priorities for the club teams to be successful. That is very negative for English women’s football.”

Matt Beard, whose Liverpool side lost to Manchester United in the League Cup on Wednesday, echoed Eidevall’s frustrations. “I can’t believe the decision has been made. I don’t understand,” he said. “I believe that if the competition was still under the FA it would not have been called off. It’s crazy.

“It gave Manchester United an advantage over us on Wednesday because they don’t have to prepare for Chelsea this week. I just hope this doesn’t happen every time.”

In confirming the postponement last week, the WPLL apologized to supporters and said: “In this case we must put the welfare of the players first and will announce a new date for the match in due course. We thank the clubs and Sky Sports for their understanding as we work towards a solution.”