Arsenal face a challenge to retain one of their leading women’s players, with Katie McCabe identified by Lyon as a firm target this summer.

The north London side recently saw Vivianne Miedema, the Women’s Super League’s all-time top scorer, move to rivals Manchester City on a free transfer when her contract expired.

Arsenal decided against offering Miedema a new deal — the decorated former Barcelona forward Mariona Caldentey has joined as a replacement — whereas McCabe signed fresh terms last year and the club want her to stay.

However, that has not dissuaded Lyon from pursuing the 28-year-old left-back and they are ready to make a formal bid if Arsenal show any indication they are willingo do business.

Lyon collected a 17th French title last season but were denied their ninth Champions League triumph by Barcelona and, following the exit of Sonia Bompastor to Chelsea, recruited former Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro as head coach.

Having enjoyed a successful spell at Juventus most recently, Montemurro will be responsible for re-establishing Lyon’s dominant position in Europe and a potential reunion with Republic of Ireland captain McCabe is high on his agenda.

Lyon have contacted Arsenal to express their interest and were informed she is not for sale — McCabe has…

Former Wimbledon manager and Tottenham Hotspur defender Joe Kinnear has died at the age of 77.

Kinnear played for Tottenham and Brighton and Hove Albion during an 11-year career as a player, making a combined 212 club appearances.

He also won 26 caps for the Republic of Ireland national team.

Kinnear went on to manage Luton Town, Wimbledon, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United — where he also held the position of director of football.

His passing was confirmed in a statement by Newcastle that read: “Newcastle United is saddened to learn of the passing of Joe Kinnear at the age of 77.

“Joe worked at the club as both Manager and Director of Football.

“The thoughts of everyone at #NUFC are with Joe’s family and friends at this difficult time.”

A statement from Spurs said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of former player, Joe Kinnear. The thoughts of everyone at the Club are with his family and friends at this incredibly sad time.”

AFC Wimbledon added: “A true legend of the Club, Joe gave us some amazing memories that we treasure.”

Former Premier League striker John Harton, who played under Kinnear at Wimbledon, said: “Sad news hearing that my ex-boss Joe Kinnear has passed away.. My thoughts are with Joe’s wife Bonnie and the Kinnear…

Arsenal left back Katie McCabe is set to end speculation over her future, with the Republic of Ireland captain close to signing a new contract at the north London club.

The 28-year-old joined from Irish side Shelbourne in 2015 with her current deal expiring next summer.

Arsenal rejected a lucrative offer for McCabe from Chelsea in January and the west London team retain their interest, while Bayern Munich and Manchester City are also keen.

But Arsenal have been working to keep her and are now nearing an agreement which would give Jonas Eidevall’s side a huge boost ahead of their opening fixture of the 2023-24 Women’s Super League season at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

McCabe was recently nominated for the Ballon d’Or — something no Irish woman has previously achieved. She is the first player from her country to make the list since Roy Keane did so in the men’s game 23 years ago.

The versatile left-footer led Ireland’s women to a maiden World Cup this year and contributed their only goal at the tournament.

GO DEEPER

My game in my words. By Arsenal’s Katie McCabe

‘McCabe delivers in decisive moments’

Analysis from Arsenal correspondent Art de Roche

Katie McCabe’s new contract with Arsenal would be the icing on the cake to a stellar start to the season. The 28-year-old…

Republic of Ireland defender Diane Caldwell has said the national team qualified for the Women’s World Cup “in spite of” Vera Pauw being the team’s manager.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) decided against renewing Pauw’s contract, which expired on September 1, after an internal review into all aspects of the World Cup campaign.

Ireland’s women reached a major tournament for the first time in their history but were knocked out after the group stage.

“From my position as a pretty experienced player, I don’t think it was up to the standard expected at the international level,” said Caldwell, 35, when asked about Pauw’s approach to analysing and preparing for games. “And I think the results and performances that we got were in spite of Vera being our coach.”

Chief executive Jonathan Hill confirmed last week that talks about a new deal for Pauw had been placed on hold in July following The Athletic’s investigation into the head coach’s conduct during her time in charge of National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team Houston Dash in 2018.

Pauw denied all the allegations in The Athletic’s report, which included that she “created a culture of fear” and would comment on her players’ weight and appearance. She argued the Dash players were “not…

Vera Pauw will depart her role as Republic of Ireland Women’s manager following the expiry of her contract at the end of August.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has confirmed it will not be offering Pauw a new deal.

The 60-year-old had been in charge of Ireland since 2019.

FAI Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Hill said: “On behalf of the Football Association of Ireland, we would like to thank Vera for her hard work and commitment over the past four years and wish her well for the future. In particular, I wish to acknowledge the role she played in leading Ireland to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 where our women’s team made history and inspired a nation.

“The future is bright for women and girls’ football and our focus now is building upon the work done by Vera and the historic achievements of our women’s team, which we see as a platform to support the next phase of the journey for the team, and more broadly the development of women and girls’ football in this country.”

Under Pauw, Ireland qualified for the Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history following a play-off victory over Scotland.

Ireland exited the 2023 tournament at the group stages after defeats to co-hosts Australia and Olympic champions Canada and a draw with Nigeria.

Pauw is…

The 2023 Women’s World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand on July 20, with the U.S. hoping to navigate an expanded 32-team tournament to become the first country to win football’s biggest prize three times in a row.

They are the favourites, but will the four-time winners actually pull off the ‘three-peat’? What of England, European champions but decimated by injuries to key players as they attempt to win the tournament for the first time? Will Germany bounce back from losing the final of the Euros to lift the game’s biggest prize?

How will the likes of France, Spain and Canada perform after their preparations have been disrupted by disputes with their federations over the past few months?

And can we expect any surprises from any of the eight countries — Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Vietnam and Zambia — making their World Cup debuts?

Our expert writers give their verdicts on what they think will happen over the next five weeks.

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Flo Lloyd-Hughes, women’s football reporter

Winner: Germany. This is a very open tournament and there are four or five teams that have a good chance of winning the title. Germany are often the masters of their own downfall, but given their disappointment at the Euros last summer and their…

Let’s start with a few fun facts. 

Asisat Oshoala has been African women’s footballer of the year five times. She has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times. She has two Golden Boots and two Golden Balls at international tournaments: two each at AFCON and the Under-20 World Cup. 

She was the top scorer in Spain in 2021-22 and last season, notched a personal-best 21 goals for Barcelona — accompanied by three assists, which was comfortably more than her team-mates.

In 2019, she became the first African woman to score in a Champions League final. Two years later she became the first African woman to win a Champions League title. A year after that, she became the first African woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or. 

We could go on. There will certainly be better players at this World Cup, but there won’t be many as exciting to watch, or indeed many with a more interesting career story, than Oshoala. 

Born in Ikorodu, a coastal city about an hour’s drive from the Nigerian capital Lagos, Oshoala wasn’t exactly encouraged to pursue her sporting dreams as a child. Her parents would frequently not give her any food if she disobeyed them and went to play football, considering it a waste of time. They wanted her to become a lawyer instead. 

But when she was…

On July 20 at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium, Vera Pauw will manage the Republic of Ireland as the country makes its Women’s World Cup debut against joint hosts Australia.

After qualifying for a major tournament for the first time, Pauw dedicated the achievement to “all women in Ireland”, with the 60-year-old saying: “If you really want something and you put all your effort in it together as a group, then anything is possible.”

The images of Pauw and her Irish players celebrating their success at Hampden Park in Scotland last October, however, are at odds with the descriptions of a manager described by one former player as “the most terrible coach I’ve ever had”; a woman who, according to another ex-player, “created a culture of fear” during her time at National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side the Houston Dash in 2018 and would comment on her players’ weight and appearance.

“We were all afraid of her because we had no idea what she was going to do,” said one former Dash player, speaking to The Athletic on condition of anonymity, like others in this article, for fear of retaliation and a desire to keep working in soccer….

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is almost here. It is the ninth iteration of the tournament and the biggest yet as, for the first time, 32 teams will compete for the trophy.

That means a new format with more matches and more players, as well as some new rules that have not been in operation before.

Here’s a primer ahead of the biggest women’s football tournament in history.

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The basics

What is the Women’s World Cup?

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international tournament that pits the best national sides against one another every four years.

Where is it being held?

The tournament is being played in Australia and New Zealand.

It is the first Women’s World Cup to be hosted across two countries and the first World Cup (regardless of gender) to be hosted across two confederations — Australia are part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and New Zealand are part of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

When is it?

The first two games of the tournament — New Zealand vs Norway and Australia vs Republic of Ireland — will be played on July 20.

The group stage will conclude with the final two games in Group H a fortnight later on August 3.

The knockout stage will begin on…

In The Journey to the Cup, The Athletic follows six players as they work towards a place in the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Follow along as we check in with them each month in the build-up to the tournament, tracking their progress as they prepare both mentally and physically for a chance to shine on the game’s biggest stage.

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“I panicked,” says Lily Agg. “I was crying. It felt like my foot had left my ankle, a horrible unknown feeling. My ankle blew up big time straightaway. It looked broken. You think the worst, ‘This is just my luck, please don’t do this to me’. ”

The Republic of Ireland international thought her World Cup dream could be over.

Training with her club, London City Lionesses of the Championship, on a Thursday night in late March, Agg dispossessed a team-mate, dribbled with the ball and was about to pass. The player that lost the ball tried to regain possession. “She stepped on my ankle from one angle, another player came in from the other side and my ankle got sandwiched,” Agg tells The Athletic.

Accompanied by club physio Laura Clint, the 29-year-old spent two hours at Bromley A&E. The amount of swelling sparked concerns over a broken ankle.

“At A&E, I started to test my ankle by putting weight on it which I probably shouldn’t have,” says…