Women's Soccer

Spain's women's soccer season is on the verge of being cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with champions in each tier being declared based on the standings before the campaign was halted, the country's football federation (RFEF) has said.

Relegation will be scrapped this term as a result of the decision, which must be ratified by the RFEF executive committee on Friday, the governing body added in a statement on Wednesday.

SYDNEY — Matildas striker Sam Kerr says the COVID-19 crisis has wreaked havoc in the medium-term career planning for Australia's top women footballers, leaving them with a major tournament to play every year until 2024.

Kerr and her team mates would have been looking forward to a long break in the middle of next year but that slot will now be occupied by the Tokyo Olympics, postponed by a year because of the pandemic.

"This has put a real spanner in the works," Kerr told Fox Sports TV from lockdown in London, where she plays for Chelsea.

U.S. women's national soccer team co-captains Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe said they were shocked after their team's claims for equal pay were dismissed by a court.

The duo, who helped the U.S. to a record fourth World Cup title last year, said they planned to appeal the decision, after a California judge on Friday threw out the players' claims that they were underpaid in comparison with the men's team.

LONDON — Women's soccer around the world is being held back due to a continuing lack of basic employment rights and standards at international competitions, a report from global players' union FIFPro has said.

The document, published on Wednesday, says that being a professional soccer player is still not a viable career option for women in many parts of the world, despite record attendances at matches over the past year.

A letter released on Monday from Kevin Payne, CEO/Executive Director of US Club Soccer, sets May 18 as the earliest possible return date of youth soccer in America. Obviously this date is subject to change as the coronavirus situation evolves, but it does give us an idea for when youth soccer will resume.

US Club Soccer also put out a tweet with a link to the letter on Monday afternoon.

FIFA has proposed that teams should be allowed to make up to five substitutions per match, instead of the usual three, as a temporary measure to help cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

Football has been at a standstill since mid-March but many leagues and federations are still hoping to complete the season but to do so they would have to cram fixtures into a shorter period than usual once play re-starts.

Ever since the dawn of the NASL in the 1960s, American soccer teams have tried everything under the sun to create iconic club names. From the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Dallas Tornado of the old NASL to modern-day Real Salt Lake and the short-lived Houston 1836, there have been some winners and many more losers. The new Louisville NWSL club might be going the Houston 1836 route.

UEFA's Euro 2021 Women's Championship, to be held in England, will be played one year later in July 2022, European soccer's governing body decided at an executive committee meeting on Thursday. 

The tournament was moved after UEFA's Euro 2020 men's competition had to be postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening match will be held on July 6 with the final on July 31. 

The recent progress of women's football is at risk of being undone as the sport is brought to a standstill by the novel coronavirus, the players union FIFPRO told Reuters television in on Friday.

FIFPRO said in a report published Thursday that the women's game could face an "existential threat" and many players could lose their livelihoods in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The U.S. Soccer Federation said on Wednesday it was shutting down its youth development academy permanently due to the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

U.S. Soccer, the sport's governing body in the United States, said in a statement the decision to shutter the academy, which it founded in 2007 and included competitions across five age groups, was effective immediately.