Arsenal and Chelsea face month-long WSL exile as 2028 Women's Club World Cup lands in January
The Women's Super League is facing major disruption next season after it emerged that Arsenal and Chelsea are likely to be absent from domestic competition for up to a month because of the inaugural Women's Club World Cup.
The tournament, provisionally scheduled for 5–30 January, is set to be awarded to the United States, with transatlantic travel posing an additional problem for European sides. The proposed dates clash directly with the WSL campaign, and an extended run in the competition would mean the two English clubs missing up to four WSL match weeks plus the fourth round of the FA Cup, playing havoc with the fixture list and causing major congestion at the end of the season.
Who qualifies, and how Chelsea could miss out
Fifa has yet to confirm the qualification criteria for the tournament, but Arsenal are guaranteed to be involved as the 2025 Champions League winners, while Chelsea are likely to join them — although they would lose their place if Manchester City win this season's Champions League. Uefa will be granted six places: five to qualify automatically and one to take part in a six-team qualifier before the tournament, with the three highest-ranked clubs joining 13 automatic qualifiers to form a 16-team competition.
While the process has still to be ratified by the Fifa Council, it is understood Uefa's spots will be given to the Champions League winners between 2024 and 2027 — currently Barcelona as the two-time champions and Arsenal, with this season's title still up for grabs — topped up by the highest-ranked clubs in Uefa's Champions League coefficient table. Chelsea sit third in that table for the current four-year cycle, behind Barcelona and Lyon, with a 17-point lead over fourth-placed Bayern Munich, and cannot be caught.
Based on the current rankings, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg are next in line to qualify, although Wolfsburg have not qualified for this season's Champions League and will not accumulate additional points, making them likely to be overhauled by Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain. Fifa plans to cap the number of participants from each country at two, which is why City winning the Champions League would cost Chelsea their place.
WSL braced for a lopsided season
The WSL declined to comment as it has yet to be told of Fifa's plans for the tournament, but sources conceded its impact is likely to prove challenging. The league has a winter break, scheduled for 21 December to 10 January this season, and although that could be pushed back slightly, aligning it with the Club World Cup is not viewed as practical due to the congested calendar.
As well as creating a lopsided season, moving the winter break would result in a backlog of WSL fixtures during the period when the Champions League knockout stage begins at the start of February — a period that already promises to be intense, with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all competing domestically and in Europe.
Congestion fears extend to the 2028 Olympics
Fixture congestion is a growing area of concern in the women's game, and 2028 will be particularly problematic because of the Olympic football tournament taking place in Los Angeles in August, just before the start of the European domestic season. The International Olympic Committee has expanded women's football to 16 nations at the 2028 Games, and unlike the men's version — restricted to players under 23 with three overage exceptions — senior internationals are permitted to take part.
Fifa's imposition of the Club World Cup in the middle of the European season has exacerbated the problem. Last month, European Leagues, the lobby group, extended its legal complaint to the European Commission about the world governing body's alleged "abuse of power and dominant position" to include the women's game.