W-League season realignment

Despite the success that the unofficial offseason scheduling has brought, this W-League/NWSL-Nordic league synergy may be at risk. The FFA recently announced that the W-League would be delayed at least a month this upcoming year.  

The shift is due to the television rights agreement with Foxtel, which runs out in July 2021.  The upcoming W-League is now expected to be between December and April.  

This creates a significant conflict with the leagues the W-League draws most of its foreign talent from.  In non-COVID years, the NWSL and the Nordic leagues have all held their preseason during late-March and started their seasons during the month of April.

While, it may still be possible for many Nordic and NWSL based players to come to play in Australia during their upcoming offseason, and arguably many will due to the COVID-related reduced game time in their current seasons, a 2020-21 W-League contract or loan would mean missing the beginning of their 2021 respective overseas seasons.

NWSL and Nordic clubs may allow a loan that interferes with their upcoming season this year, again due to the COVID-related reduced playing time, but will arguably not allow this situation to interfere with their season every year.

Mutually Beneficial Formalisation

Therefore, it is important for the W-League to reinforce and even formalize its upcoming seasonal structures with these leagues that provide so much talent and opportunity.  

This formalization, in the form of intentional off-season scheduling by leagues with which the W-League has arrangements, would be to the mutual benefit of the W-League and the northern-hemisphere summer-leagues it comes into agreement with.

While it is in the interest of the W-League to remain attractive to as many overseas players as possible, especially with the mass migration in place, it is also in the interest of the NWSL and Nordic leagues.  

These leagues have also felt the impact of top European northern-hemisphere winter-leagues' recruitment.  The NWSL and Nordic leagues are increasingly finding it difficult to retain top talent in the competitive women's footballers market.

Having a formal structure with the W-League that gives their players more year-round playing time, as well as a larger earning capacity should they come to the W-League, would give the leagues involved assurances of availability of their local and possible foreign talent while having a trusted and cooperative offseason partner in the W-League.

The same assurances would exist for Australian-based players.

Arguably then, for the W-League to remain competitive, attractive to players, and to keep growing commercially, it is imperative that in future years the W-League find a way to keep being scheduled in the NWSL and Nordic league's offseasons.