What to look out for in women's football in 2025
Flo Lloyd-Hughes looks ahead to some of the big events in women's football in 2025 and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback.
Happy New Year and welcome to the latest edition of The Cutback’s newsletter What Happened.
I have been deep in my Chrimbo Limbo, enjoying the hazy days that come between Christmas and New Year. I’m now firmly back in my email inbox and slowly getting myself ready for the January crunch. For this week’s issue I wanted to highlight some of the things that I’ll be keeping an eye on and getting excited about this year.
But first, I wanted to say a big welcome to some of our new subscribers who will be receiving this newsletter for the first time. Thanks so much for signing up to join The Cutback.
A quick recap on what we do. The Cutback is a women’s football media platform and community that is dedicated to in-depth analysis of the women’s game. It’s a website, an online forum and also a live event destination.
We have a huge library of content already on the site that you can explore so please go and have a read, leave comments and join some of our live chats that we’ll be delivering throughout the year.
This newsletter is my weekly round-up of the biggest talkings points in women’s football. This mail-out will always be free to read and sent to your inbox every week. When there are big stories we want to share we’ll also send articles direct to your email inboxes.
We’ve got two new pieces already up on the site for you to read right now.
Matt Dallinson has picked out some of his players to watch from the Scottish Women’s Premier League. It’s a must read for anyone looking to expand their knowledge of players outside the WSL.
Also, our good friends from The Underrated Scout have delivered their latest tactical team profile. Brian Sorensen’s Everton are the latest side to be analysed. This in-depth piece outlines their formation, attacking and defensive structures, and style of play. Worth reading some of the other team profiles we’ve already released.
ICYMI - I chatted to Tim Stillman from Arseblog on the latest Arsenal Women Arsecast. We talked content, The Cutback and Counter Pressed. Check it out.
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In today’s issue: What to look out for in women's football in 2025
What to look out for in women's football in 2025
This isn’t a ranking or a best of list, it’s more just things I’m excited for or events to mark in your diaries. Let me know if I’ve missed anything that we should keep an eye on!
Euro 2025
The marquee event of this year is the return of the Women’s Euros as Euro 2025 takes place in Switzerland from 2 to 27 July. The tournament will be broadcast across the BBC and ITV in the UK.
England will be defending their title from 2022 but this time there won’t be a home crowd behind them. Sarina Wiegman’s team are not in the best form following a tough 2024 that saw Team GB miss out on the Olympics and a few shambolic results too.
The draw for the tournament took place just before Christmas, a little reminder of the groups:
Group A - Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Finland
Group B - Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy
Group C - Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden
Group D - France, England, Wales, Netherlands
Spain will be the favourites for this after winning the 2023 World Cup, defeating England in the final, and claiming a bronze medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
So much of how this tournament unravels will depend on the quarter-finals. There are only 16 teams involved so if any of the big teams fail to top their group there is a high chance they could be dumped out in the last eight.
If England do progress to the quarter-finals they will face either the winner or runner up from Group C, depending where England finish in Group D.
Copa America returns
England aren’t the only team defending a trophy this year, Brazil will be hoping to win a fifth successive Copa America when the tournament returns in the summer.
Ecuador will be hosting the South American competition, which is running from 12 July to 2 August.
Brazil have absolutely dominated this trophy ever since its inception. They’ve won all but one of the editions, with Argentina claiming a rare trophy in 2006.
Given the impressive run that Brazil made to the 2024 Olympic Games gold medal match, you’d expect them to win this again. The only team standing in their way could be Mayra Ramirez’s Colombia who were runners up in 2010, 2014 and 2022.
A Champions League Final in Lisbon
Uefa has picked some great Champions League Final hosts in recent years and this year’s final in Lisbon could be an absolute classic.
The 50,000-capacity Estádio José Alvalade, home of Sporting Lisbon, will be staging the biggest game in club football.
We should expect to see Barcelona there, again. They’re aiming for a fourth European title and a third successive crown. The teams that are realistically standing in their way are Chelsea, who have made an impressive start to life under Sonia Bompastor, and Lyon, an old enemy of the Spanish champions.
I’ll also put Manchester City and Arsenal in there as underdogs to make a run to the final. City are going through it with injuries so it depends who makes it back in time for the quarter-finals in March, Arsenal should have some stability coming with a new permanent manager and they’ve shown in the past they can navigate Champions League knockout games even when they’re not favourites.
The draw for the quarter-finals and the semi-finals is taking place on 7 February.
WAFCON is back
It really is the year of continental competitions as the Women’s African Cup of Nations returns this summer.
The tournament was originally going to take place in 2024 but was postponed to avoid clashing with the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
This should be one of the most competitive WAFCON’s in recent memory as African women’s football has experienced exciting growth and development in recent years. Twelve teams will be competing for the title in Morocco from 5 to 26 July.
South Africa are the holders having beaten Morocco in the 2022 Final. That was South Africa’s first WAFCON title and signalled the changing of the guard for a competition that had been dominated by Nigeria. Now the queens of African football have to compete with the likes of South Africa, Morocco, Cameroon and Zambia, who have all qualified for major tournaments in recent years.
A new league in Canada
Outside of international football, this year we’ll see the dawn of a new era for Canadian women’s football as a professional women’s league arrives in the country for the very first time.
In April, the Northern Super League kicks off. Just six teams will take part in the debut season - AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild, Halifax Tides, Montreal Roses, Ottawa Rapid and Vancouver Rise.
The league is being run by Project 8, a company co-founded by former Canada international Diana Matheson.
It’s exciting but also daunting to see a new league come into the women’s game. The sport has a bit of a history, especially in the US, of failed enterprises. However, these days the sport is experiencing much more stable and prolonged growth.
Football is very much a minority sport in Canada and has always had it’s financial challenges, so ensuring some form of sustainability (not necessarily just financial) will be key. Canada had teams take part in the old failed USL W-League, so there’s been these false dawns before.
It’s a huge step to see the country finally get a professional league but we should be patient to see how this league can develop. Realistically, Canada’s best players are still going to be playing abroad to develop their game, but this is a great stepping stone towards a stronger domestic game.
That’s it from me this week. Our writers will be delivering some mid-season assessments of their clubs over the coming week, so keep an eye out.
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^^Lol, I read this with your Pepsi advert voice narration in my head.
I'm really enjoying the championship and and National League races despite the frustration of the 1 up 1 down situations.
I'm looking forward to the NSL but also lets have a shout out for the USL super league and its expansion teams as well, I really hope these leagues can develop and grow.
New NWSL franchises are on the way, and as a WSL neutral It's hard not to feel in a number of key areas the NWSL is pulling ahead a bit currently, its a slightly acquired taste but for me was genuinely exciting this season.