Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City’s senior executives are among the members of a new working group set up to establish how the English women’s professional game should look in the future.
Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham will chair the group while Nikki Doucet, a former Nike director and investment banker, has been appointed by the FA as an independent consultant to lead the 10 representatives from WSL and WC clubs. The first meeting took place on Thursday with another one scheduled a month later.
The FA, who had no intention of running the elite game in the long-term when the WSL went professional in 2018, is still planning to create a new company, the equivalent of the men’s Premier League, as announced by Baroness Sue Campbell, the director of women’s football in July.
In the summer, Campbell said the FA was “moving towards” plans to potentially start the ‘NewCO’ from January 2023 but that has been pushed back in order for further consultation with stakeholders. If conversations proceed positively, the intention is to have the NewCo, in place for the summer of 2024 ready in time for the 2024-25 season.
The Premier League has run English football’s top men’s division since 1992, while the other three professional leagues were rebranded to the…
