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The Women’s Super League is in advanced discussions with the Professional Footballers’ Association over providing a funding deal that would enable all players in the top two divisions to join the union for the first time.
Under the existing arrangements the PFA does not receive any financial backing for the women’s game, with players in the WSL 2 – previously the Championship – unable to use its services, leaving many without access to healthcare and medical insurance despite being paid pro rata salaries far below the national minimum wage.
Talks between WSL Football and the PFA are understood to have accelerated after Blackburn’s decision this month to withdraw from WSL 2 – as first revealed by the Guardian – which has left their players feeling anxious and angry. The Guardian has been told many of them were paid as little as £11,000 a year by Blackburn as they were employed on part-time contracts with the PFA stepping in to provide financial assistance despite not having any formal obligation to do so.
The PFA has approximately 250 female members, with some of the funding the union receives from the Premier League, English Football League and Football Association diverted to provide them with some basic services. Players in the WSL 2 have been ineligible to join the PFA, however, as the union lacks the resources to support them.
WSL Football, the company responsible for running the top two tiers of the women’s game, is understood to have reached an agreement in principle with the PFA to provide a funding package that is expected to be signed in the next few weeks. Both parties are confident that all WSL 2 players will be PFA members by the start of next season, the first in which all clubs in the top two divisions will be fully professional.
The Premier League pays around £25m a year to fund the PFA, which has more than 5,000 male members, and the WSL deal will be far smaller. However, as well as expanding the membership the PFA will use the money to offer female-specific services for the first time, particularly in areas such as rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, and medical research.
Funding comprehensive union representation for players in both tiers was one of the key recommendations of the Raising the Bar Review, the government-commissioned independent review of women’s football chaired by Karen Carney, which was published in 2023. The Carney Review also called for an improvement in the minimum standards criteria demanded by the WSL of all clubs in the top two divisions, including increased training time, the introduction of a minimum salary and the provision of a “gold standard” in physical and mental health services to all players.
WSL Football has moved to implement these higher minimum standards from next season, although the increased costs involved have proved too much for some clubs, with Blackburn deciding to withdraw from WSL 2. While a source at one WSL 2 club said the new standards “are not particularly onerous”, and most clubs at that level budget for losses of between £750,000 and £1m each year.
Blackburn’s owner, Venkys London Ltd, decided the cost was too high 12 months after Reading also withdrew from the second tier on financial grounds. Wolves also angered their players by not formally applying for promotion from the third tier.
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Blackburn’s departure leaves the WSL one club short for next season at the moment but the National League North side Burnley announced last week that they will be going fully professional next season and that they have applied to replace their Lancashire neighbours.
Another option would be for the bottom club, Sheffield United, to be spared relegation despite winning only one Championship match last season. The club committed to staying full-time with fully professional players after relegation and plan to play all their home games at Bramall Lane regardless of which division they are in.
While WSL Football will make recommendations the final decision rests with the FA Board, which in the past has opted to give clubs reprieves from relegation. Lewes were given the option to stay in the second tier following Reading’s late withdrawal last summer, but had already released players and gone part-time following relegation so the Championship was reduced to 11 clubs.
WSL Football and the PFA declined to comment.
