“Still the biggest driver for women’s football are … the international tournaments and the national teams.”
“So many countries around the world don’t have organized (women’s) leagues and infrastructure, so the touchpoint is the national team,” Ellis said. But Ellis is exploring removing only one period set aside for international games to leave five windows, highlighting the different needs of the women’s game with far fewer, well-resourced domestic competitions.
Wenger envisages reducing the number of windows for international games annually from five to two. “What’s going to really grow our sport? And I think my job is not to look at it with one region, it’s to look at it around the world.”Ĭoncepts for biennial World Cups for men and women have become intertwined despite differences. “Let’s just put politics aside right now, and let’s look at what actually affects and changes lives,” Ellis said. UEFA, the governing body overseeing European football, has even threatened to boycott World Cups if FIFA gains support more widely to implement the restructuring of the sport. “My hope is we’re not seeing the politics of it on the men’s side, we’re looking at what is actually best for our game.” “My hope is that the people within women’s football aren’t influenced by the decisions on the men’s side,” Ellis said after a meeting in London of the FIFA technical advisory group she leads. It was a vision first floated during the 2019 tournament in France as Ellis was winning her second title, with little immediate dissent.īut resistance has grown, driven by concerns in men’s football withEuropean officials bemoaning limited consultation before FIFA chief of global football development, Arsene Wenger, revealed potential new men’s calendars to accommodate biennial World Cups. The centerpiece of that project is the idea to double the frequency of World Cups - to play the finals of each event every two years. It also saw Ellis accept a leadership role from FIFA to explore a transformation of the women’s game. “But I feel a bigger purpose.”Īdvice given by the head of a university sports project- “be a voice, be visible, build a community” - led to Ellis taking on the role of president of a National Women’s Soccer League expansion team with the San Diego Wave debuting next year. “I’m not saying I would never go back to the sidelines,” Ellis said in an interview with The Associated Press. LONDON (AP) - Since capping three decades coaching by lifting a second World Cup with the American women, Jill Ellis has taken time to reflect and embark on a different path, with new career challenges.