“My expectation is that we’re going to lose one or two years in the growth of women’s football,” Alan Naigeon told The Guardian.

“The investment that is going to be made is going to look closer to what it was right before the World Cup, maybe just after, and if that’s the case then we’re lucky.

“My fear is that we go back two, three, four, five years from now, closer to the previous World Cup in 2015, because the clubs are going to be financially struggling and like in every business you usually tend to cut what is not earning you any money.”

Naigeon said that off-contract players across women's football may be the hardest hit, as clubs seek to offload expenses as easily as possible.

It's a troubling sign for the W-League given only five players are currently contracted for next season.

“Struggling clubs are not going to take any risks so those players are probably not in as high demand," he continued.

"They’re going to struggle for offers on the same level to what they were on, at best."