Arsenal and Chelsea Face WSL Disruption From Club World Cup

The Women’s Super League is expected to experience significant disruption next season because of the Club World Cup, with Arsenal and Chelsea potentially missing domestic matches for almost a month.

The first Women’s Club World Cup is expected to take place in the United States. The proposed schedule, running from 5 to 30 January, would overlap directly with the WSL, while travel across the Atlantic would create further difficulties for European teams.

Fifa has not yet announced the qualification rules, but Arsenal are assured of a place after winning the 2025 Champions League. Chelsea are also well positioned to participate, although they could miss out if Manchester City win this season’s European title. If the English clubs progress deep into the competition, they may be absent for as many as four WSL rounds and the fourth round of the FA Cup, adding serious pressure to the schedule later in the campaign.

Uefa is expected to receive six places. Five clubs would qualify directly, while another would enter a six-team preliminary tournament in which the top three advance to join 13 automatic qualifiers in a 16-team event. Although Fifa Council still needs to approve the system, Uefa’s places are expected to go to Champions League winners from 2023 to 2027, with the remaining berths determined by the highest positions in its club coefficient rankings.

Chelsea sit third in Uefa’s coefficient standings for the current four-year period, behind Barcelona and Lyon. Their 17-point advantage over fourth-placed Bayern Munich means they cannot be overtaken. Bayern and Wolfsburg are presently next in the qualification order, but Wolfsburg’s absence from this season’s Champions League prevents them from collecting more points, leaving Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain in position to move ahead. As Fifa intends to limit each nation to two clubs, a Champions League triumph for Manchester City would remove Chelsea from the tournament.

WSL officials have not commented because they have yet to receive formal details about Fifa’s tournament plans. However, the event is expected to affect several rounds of league matches. This season’s winter break is planned for 21 December to 10 January, but extending it to cover the Club World Cup is considered unrealistic because the calendar is already crowded.

Changing the winter break would not only make the season uneven but could also create a buildup of postponed WSL games just as the Champions League knockout phase starts in early February. Fixture congestion is becoming an increasing concern in women’s football, with 2028 likely to present further complications because the Olympic tournament in Los Angeles will be held in August, shortly before European domestic competitions begin.

The International Olympic Committee has increased the women’s Olympic football competition to 16 countries for the 2028 Games. Unlike the men’s event, which mainly permits under-23 players and only three older squad members, the women’s tournament remains open to senior international players.

Scheduling the Club World Cup during the European domestic season has intensified concerns about player workload and fixture pressure. Earlier this year, European Leagues expanded its legal complaint to the European Commission, alleging that football’s global governing body had misused its authority and dominant position, with the complaint now also covering the women’s game.