When Chelsea played Arsenal in the first Women’s Super League match in 2011, only two women on the pitch for kick-off were from anywhere other than the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland.
One of them was the referee. Sasa Ihringova had moved from Slovakia to England five years earlier and had established herself as the obvious choice for the showpiece women’s games, having previously refereed two FA Cup finals.
The only foreign player was Chelsea midfielder Hayley Moorwood. She was an experienced international footballer who captained New Zealand but did not move halfway around the world solely for the WSL. Her boyfriend — now husband — Daniel Bowden was a professional rugby union player who had signed for London Irish. She was in London because of his career as much as her own.
Thirteen years later, the WSL has exploded into a global jamboree of nationalities. The equivalent fixture between Arsenal and Chelsea this month will probably feature more than 10 nationalities. From the opening two weekends of WSL action, 32 countries have been represented. In that sense, the WSL is as multinational as the Women’s World Cup.
Look at a list of the countries represented in this season’s WSL and it is strikingly similar to the international teams who fared well at the…
