Free Football As WSL2 Promotion Battle Reaches Crucial Stage

The FA Women's Super League season, disjointed though it has been throughout 2016, comes to an end with two full weekends of fixtures that will decide the final issues before the switch to a winter campaign in 2017.

Aligning the calendar with the other major leagues in Europe should be of benefit to the top clubs and the England national team and hopefully it will also lead to a more uniform schedule of matches throughout the season, allowing supporters the luxury of knowing roughly when and where their teams' fixtures will be taking place at any given point of the campaign.

Whether the switch will do anything to halt what looks like an impending period of domination by Manchester City Women remains to be seen after they secured both the WSL title and the Continental Cup and progressed through to the last 16 of the Champions League to leave themselves as Britain's only representatives.

Money, in terms of wages, plays a factor in that, of course, but as Glenn Moore writes in this month's World Soccer magazine: 'Salary differences are relatively slight. To a woman, the players explain that a greater attraction is the opportunity to train full-time and a level of integration with the men's club that means they even share medical staff and facilities.'

With City having won the title and Doncaster Rovers Belles relegated into WSL2, the main focus of the final two weekends of fixtures will be which two clubs are promoted into the top-flight (bringing it up to 10 teams after a season with an odd number).

Everton Ladies and Bristol City Women are firmly involved in that battle and there is free admission to the Select Security Stadium in Widnes for their game on Saturday 29th October at 6pm.

One other game of note, although it does not affect the promotion race, is the first ever WSL match to be played at Villa Park as Aston Villa Ladies take on Watford on Sunday 6th November at 2pm. Tickets are priced at £5 & £1 with free admission for AVFC season ticket holders if they register their details in advance.