Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall has criticised the “amateurish behaviour” in handling fixture scheduling after a Women’s Super League match was postponed at a week’s notice.
Chelsea’s WSL game against Manchester United has been called off because of a conflict with the Blues’ European schedule.
The new company which now runs the Women’s Super League, The Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), said the cancellation was in order to prioritise player welfare.
The Women’s Champions League draw was made last Friday and Chelsea’s opening group game at home to Real Madrid was scheduled for just two days after the United game – on Tuesday, 8 October.
Before the Champions League draw was made, WPLL had asked Uefa not to schedule any of the three English teams to play on 8 October, but were unsuccessful.
Eidevall said the situation could have been avoided if Women’s Super League games involving teams in the Champions League were scheduled for Friday or Saturday to avoid a potential 48-hour turnaround, but all three English clubs involved are believed to have requested to play on the Sunday.
“Out of the 16 teams, 13 were scheduled to play on the Friday or Saturday and the three English teams were all scheduled to play on the Sunday,” he said.
“We have a league organisation that doesn’t act proactively on these matters. It is damaging for the fans. It is simply not good enough from the league.
“Do the league want English teams to be successful at European level? I would hope the answer to that would be yes, but the actions show differently. It shows that this is not one of their priorities.”
For the first time, there are three English clubs competing in the Women’s Champions League group stages, with Arsenal and Manchester City joining Chelsea.
Arsenal and City will still play their WSL fixtures on Sunday, with their Champions League fixtures against Bayern Munich and Barcelona respectively both being played on Wednesday.
Uefa have been criticised for the opening phase draw being made just 11 days before the first group game, but European football’s governing body said their match calendar with potential fixture dates was made available to clubs more than a year ago.
“It is very important that this is the first time in the group stage that three teams reached the group stage,” added Eidevall. “That should be something we celebrate – instead it becomes a problem.
“Now it’s even worse for us because of this amateurish behaviour, with not having a proactive plan.
“What needs to change is the approach to Champions League football. It is not good enough to blame it on Uefa because everyone across Europe has had the same information for a long time, and the only one that hasn’t acted on that information is the WSL.”
Liverpool boss Matt Beard shared Eidevall’s frustrations and was shocked the game was called off.
The Reds were beaten 2-0 by United in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday and Beard believes his side were at a disadvantage because of United’s postponement.
“We had to rotate,” said Beard. “Third week of the season we’re playing three games in a week. Manchester United had an advantage over us on Wednesday because that game got called off with them and Chelsea, which I still can’t get my head around.
“I can’t believe the decision was made. I believe if it [the WSL] was still under the FA it wouldn’t have been called off.
“If anything, the scheduling should have been done differently so Chelsea played on the Friday. If you look at Real Madrid, they are playing on the Friday night. The Champions League was factored in. I just hope this doesn’t happen every time because it is going to make it difficult.”
