WSL: How can women’s football avoid another awkward postponement?

For the first time, three English clubs will take part in the group stage of the Women’s Champions League.

Under UEFA regulations, national clubs belonging to the same national member association are not allowed to compete against each other in the group stage. One of their most important principles is the assurance that they must play on alternating evenings.

When Uefa announced its Champions League dates over a year ago, clubs and the WPLL may have been aware of a potential scheduling issue if more than one English club reached the group stage.

The first matchday was a Tuesday, following a WSL weekend where the standard day for a match is a Sunday.

Chelsea automatically qualified for the group stage as WSL winners, while Manchester City and Arsenal secured their places after successfully negotiating qualification last week.

Chelsea and the WPLL said they had been in regular discussions with Uefa and asked it to reconsider fielding an England team on Tuesday – particularly as it was only a matter of principle and not an official regulation prevented – but were unsuccessful with their applications.

This perceived lack of flexibility on UEFA’s part has caused frustration.

This meant that the WPLL had to rearrange its schedule to help Chelsea, as player welfare was their top priority and it was unfair to expect athletes to play two games in three days.

Postponing the WSL game to Saturday October 5 to give Chelsea an extra day to recover before the European Cup game was out of the question for Manchester United, who did not want to play three games in seven days.

Chelsea were unable to swap their Champions League matchday with London rivals Arsenal as this would have caused similar scheduling problems for the Gunners. Their WSL game at Emirates Stadium on Sunday would have been very difficult to reschedule as the men’s team had played there the previous day.

Ultimately, the lack of wiggle room contributes to a larger discussion about scheduling in women’s soccer.

Several high-profile players and managers have questioned major organizations such as Fifa and Uefa as international calendars expand, European competitions increase and player welfare becomes a growing concern.