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Following the announcement of a new, lucrative women’s seven-a-side series – called World Sevens Football and offering the winning team a cash prize that rivals that of the Women’s Champions League – what else do we know about this new event?
So what is the prize money and who will get it?
The Guardian understands $100m of investment has been guaranteed across the next five years and that, at each event, there will be a $5m prize pot. Of that, it is understood $2.5m will go to the winning club, and what was described as a “hefty” portion of that will go the players and coaching staff.
What are the rules?
Each game will be 30 minutes long, split into two 15-minute halves, with rolling substitutions. A half-sized pitch will be used, with slightly smaller goals than would normally be seen in 11-a-side-football. The teams are set to be divided into two groups of four, before a semi-final and final, and the organisers are hoping that high-scoring games with frequent one-on-one dribbling and a flurry of goalmouth action will make the format appealing to a new generation of fans. “It’s supposed to be exciting and creative with lots of freedom of expression,” Anita Asante, who is part of the tournament advisory council, said. “That’s why I was so excited to get onboard.”
Where is this event being staged?
The inaugural tournament will be staged from 21-23 May in Estoril, Portugal, on a grass pitch at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota, where it is understood a ‘stadium within a stadium’ will be built around a half-sized pitch for the seven-a-side games. It is in close proximity to Lisbon, which is hosting the Women’s Champions League final on 24 May. The venues for the series’ future events have not yet been announced but the organisers say they are planning to go to cities “across the United States, Mexico, Asia, Europe and beyond” in the future. One source suggested to the Guardian that the second competition in the series, set to be held in November-December 2025, was likely to be staged in the Americas.
Who is behind the idea?
World Sevens Football, backed by vast financial investment from US-based philanthropist Jennifer Mackesy, co-owner of the NWSL club Gotham FC, has a senior leadership group made up of experienced women’s football executives, some of whom have not yet been revealed, but on Thursday the group named former US women’s international and Bay FC co-founder Aly Wagner as their chief of strategy, while their chief executive is the entrepreneur Justin Fishkin. The organisers say players will be “at the heart” of the event and they have been guided by a player advisory council, which is led by respected former internationals in Tobin Heath, Caroline Seger, Asante, Kelley O’Hara and Laura Georges, who previously spent more than seven years as the secretary general of the French Football Federation.
Which teams are taking part?
At present, no teams have been confirmed for May’s inaugural event but it is understood that, because the Champions League finalists will be the only teams that are not eligible to be involved, most of the participating clubs may not be announced after the latter stages of that competition. Nonetheless, the sevens event is understood to have been heavily oversubscribed. At least two Women’s Super League teams are likely to take part in May, with Angel City and Bayern Munich also among a long list of clubs said to be interested.
How will it be decided which clubs are involved?
At present, that remains somewhat unclear, except that it is an invitational event and it appears to be at the full discretion of the organisers. However, a different set of eight teams are expected to be involved in the second staging of the event later in 2025, and different teams again in 2026, as the organisers work to avoid any clashes with domestic schedules, rather than the same clubs taking part every time.
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Aren’t players’ schedules already congested?
Yes, which will make this new event controversial in some people’s eyes. When asked about this specific issue, the organisers said their short-match format has been deliberately designed to minimise the load on players. Teams can bring a full-sized squad and then will select a 14-player squad for each individual, 30-minute match, and then are allowed to use rolling subs, so it’s expected that a typical player might play fewer than 90 minutes of football in total across the entire event. Asante said: “The competition rules are designed with the players in mind, to cope with load.”
Will players heading to Euro 2025 be allowed to take part?
Technically, as this event is being staged outside of a Fifa international window, the players’ availability will lie in the hands of their clubs and not their national teams. That said, it remains to be seen whether any national team coaches will seek to restrict the involvement of any of their players or perhaps request that their minutes be managed across the three-day event. But Georges hinted that the tournament is aimed at unearthing some of the next generation of skilful stars, not just adding to first-choice international starting players’ schedules.
Does this event need Uefa or Fifa approval to go ahead?
Technically, no, with those organisations overseeing traditional 11-a-side football and not seven-a-side, and while World Sevens Football have been in regular dialogue with Fifa and Uefa, they say they do not want to pitch themselves as a ‘competitor’ to the 11-a-side tournaments but rather to provide a new way of injecting investment into the women’s game.
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