Arsenal Women head coach Jonas Eidevall believes the Women’s World Cup should have been played earlier and has criticised UEFA and FIFA handling for their scheduling of games this season.
Laura Wienroither became the fourth Arsenal player to suffer an anterior cruciate ligament injury this season, joining Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema and England captain Laura Williamson, with the 24-year-old defender stretchered off during her team’s 3-2 loss to Wolfsburg in the Champions League semi-finals on Monday.
Eidevall labelled Wienroither’s ACL rupture a “tragedy” and believes that Arsenal’s fixture schedule had a part to play in the Austria international’s injury.
He said: “It highlights the issues of the calendar; really important stakeholders — in this case, UEFA and FIFA — that they can’t schedule tournaments better to allow players to have time off.
“It’s very evident for everyone that can see this summer that this World Cup should have been played earlier.
“That would have meant that the players could finish their seasons, they could have some proper time off, they then prepare for the World Cup without having too much time off so they wouldn’t have lost their fitness. They didn’t get it right this year, so hopefully in the future, they can do it…
