What Happened: Women's FA Cup fourth round and that Jonas Eidevall interview
Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at some of the big stories in women's football and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback

Welcome to the first proper What Happened of the year. This is your weekly round-up of the biggest talkings points in women’s football. It’s free to read and sent to your inbox every week.
Women’s football finally returned over the weekend after the longest winter break of all time. The Women’s FA Cup fourth round fixtures were the first top level matches in England since 18 December. It’s good to be back!
In case you missed my first piece of 2025, you can check out the round up of what I’m excited about in women’s football this year.
If you haven’t subscribed to The Cutback then what are you waiting for? Push the button below.
In today’s issue: Adobe Women’s FA Cup fourth round highlights, our mid-season reviews and that Jonas Eidevall interview.
The magic of the cup
The cold weather in England unfortunately postponed seven games in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup. Credit to the ground staff that managed to get the rest of the nine ties happening, especially given how bad the weather was on Saturday.
We didn’t have any cupsets to get excited about, all of the WSL and Championship sides that played went through. But, there are still some lovely stories for the teams that did manage to play and make it through to the fifth round of the competition.
Some of the stand out results and stories for me….
A perfect first half hat-trick for London City Lionesses’ Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah. She had a dream day at Craven Cottage as the Championship side breezed passed fifth-tier Fulham, winning 5-0. Fulham were the lowest-ranked team still in the competition.
Third-tier side Rugby Borough booked their place in the fifth round after smashing former second-tier side London Bees 6-0.
Wolves came out on top against fellow third-tier side Cheltenham Town, winning 2-0.
WSL sides Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa all won.
Villa put nine past fourth-tier Bristol Rovers, Gabi Nunes got a hat-trick.
Ella Toone scored an absolute screamer in Manchester United’s 7-0 win over West Brom. Rachel Williams bagged a hat-trick.
The rest of the ties are going to be re-arranged in the coming weeks.
Heads up, I’m actually hosting the draw for the fifth round tonight on the Adobe Women’s FA Cup YouTube. Tune in at 6.30pm.
Mid-season reviews
Last week, we sent out Max Radwan’s assessment of Arsenal’s season so far which was one of several mid-season reviews from our writing team.
Raphael Adelugba examined the rollercoaster that has been Manchester City’s campaign - beating Barcelona before suffering an injury crisis at the end of last year.
Jessy Parker Humphreys waxed lyrical about Sonia Bompastor’s impressive start to life as Chelsea boss and asked the question on everyone’s lips…can they go and win the Champions League?
Rachel Cohen went deep on Spurs’ perfectly mid-table campaign and Conner Roberts unpacked Manchester United’s good but not perfect season.
These pieces are the perfect preview for the return of the WSL this weekend.
We will be doing our first subscriber live chat of the year for the Manchester derby on Sunday. Join us on here. Kick off is 6.45pm.
That Jonas Eidevall interview

Last week, San Diego Wave finally confirmed former Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall as their new boss. In an ordinary week of women’s football, this news probably wouldn’t have got that much reaction, especially as Eidevall had been linked to the job since well before Christmas.
However, this announcement was paired with a press tour where Eidevall delivered three interviews and some interesting quotes.
In interviews with Sky Sports and Sports Illustrated, and a sit down with Swedish journalist Frida Fagerlund, Eidevall spilled quite a lot on his time at Arsenal and how it all unravelled, culminating in his resignation in the middle of October last year.
Let’s look at some of the quotes. Thanks to Tim Stillman at Arseblog for getting a translation of Frida’s interview.
On the lack of a sporting director at Arsenal: “At Arsenal, we had 37 employees when I left, 27-28 players in the squad. One of the parts that I found draining, and another reason of me leaving, was the lack of a sports director to work with daily.
“I almost found it overwhelming to deal with so many people on a daily basis. I felt like I lacked time to be anything else but business. Whenever I spoke to anyone at Arsenal, it was because I had an agenda. I had zero conversations that were just ‘how are you?’ It made me feel some kind of small void.”
I was surprised to see Eidevall reveal so much about his experiences behind the scenes at Arsenal, given he had been rewarded with a new three-year contract in 2023 during a tough run of results. He had been very publicly backed by the club throughout his tenure and ended up resigning, crucially he wasn’t dismissed.
Arsenal do not have a specific sporting director for the women’s team, Clare Wheatley is director of women’s football. The club is still yet to confirm who will replace Edu, who was the overall club sporting director.
There was another line that irked me in his interviews - when he decided he wanted to quit.
"I had decided personally before that Chelsea game (his last match on 12 October) that it would be the best decision for me to step away. What I saw was a team that was only missing small details, but I saw at that moment my relationship with the supporters was like a cloud hanging over”.
This is a classic case of think it, don’t say it. To admit that you had checked out of one of the biggest jobs in the women’s game ahead of a huge game against your rivals, is quite something.
Football management is not for the faint hearted, it is one of the most stressful jobs in the world. I sympathise hugely with Eidevall for the pressure that he would have been under towards the end of his tenure, the toll that would have taken on him and his family. Having the fans turn against you is not a nice feeling for any coach. However, there is still a bigger picture that I think any manager needs to consider before they speak so openly.
Eidevall clearly feels some freedom now he’s working in the NWSL but I think many people would read those quotes and think perhaps less would have been more on this occasion.
Elsewhere….
We have a great interview coming this week with a familiar NWSL coach so keep an eye out.
That’s it from me today. See you same time next week.
On the one hand it revealed some interesting things but it certainly restarted a discourse that wasn't needed.
I actually rate JE but his comments about deciding to leave before the Chelsea game are pure bs. Clear to see it’s the Wave PR script to change the narrative from “lost the dressing room.” His pre match conference showed no indication that he was broken vs post match. The more I sit with his comments the harder it is to discern their credibility. Glad that he exposed how higher ups don’t have skin in the game when it comes to AWFC. Explains why we don’t have any efficient feedback loops and a huge gap between the ambition of fans vs reality.