I wonder which team can take their players over there without disrupting their league too much ? A Scandinavian team ?
Looks like Algarve Cup (I tournament I always loved) will be very depleted this time. Not only no USA as in last two seasons, but also no Japan, no Canada, no Australia... (just to name some of the big names who had taken part to the cup lately). Will it turn back to the times when it was basically a training tournament for Scandinavian NTs + host Portugal?
I gotta say, this proliferation of spring tournaments is insane, and probably bad for the sport. If everyone wants to host their own tournament, no one will have good guests. And they'll be no consistency as some tournaments sputter after a year or two, while others pop up to replace them. If things destabilize too much, I fear the spring calendar may completely collapse. I remember being a little wary when the Cyprus Cup started. Then SBC came not too long after, then a tournament in Turkey, followed by Spain and Australia too in rapid succession.
Although the trend shows otherwise, I hope it is a WWC-year thing: maybe some of this tournaments are kind of one-ofs that were just scheduled to properly train to World Cup. Although, as you noticed, Cyprus Cup and SBC were already there. The thing is: when there was basically just Algarve, it wasn't really enough, with two "big teams" groups of 4 teams and 1 group for the "minnows". Not enough high-profile or medium-profile NTs could find a place (and there was actually competition to get an invitation to Algarve! ). But now we're to the other side of the spectrum: there aren't enough strong women's NTs in the world for all of these tournaments to thrive in the same time-window. I understand that, in the World Cup's year, they basically need to put the tournaments in that time-frame, but couldn't they think of different FIFA dates in the next years? If these tournaments will all compete for the same FIFA window, they can't all survive, but maybe it could become interesting if they could be scattered through different months of the year instead.
I guess Australia has to go with their own international tournament. They bid for next WWC but have little to show for it in terms of global WoSo developement. Their main asset - W-League (as seen in present shape) is barely an infant, especially if you compare it to quite deep and highly structured 3 tiers of Nadeshiko League. And Japan is main Australia rivals for hosting WWC in 2023. JFA plans are to make Nadeshiko League 1&2 a pro league by 2022. Hosting an annual international tournament may rise Aussie chances a little cuz so far I'd say they are behind in the run. Aussie Cup - 3 confeds, 4 countries of which 3 are neighbours. That's smart.
I am sure I read somewhere about a FIFA Women calendar adjustment was probable for the next 4 years cycle
If it includes officially carving out space for a women's CWC, I'd be all for it. If it includes setting up a women's Nations League, Kill It With Fire.
There we go. Cyprus Cup Cyprus Cup teams/groups announced, certainly some interest there pic.twitter.com/fM5iXcOQiP— Sophie Lawson (@lawson_sv) December 17, 2018
Many teams still available for the Algarve cup Germany, France, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, China, Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Ukraine, Columbia, Portugal.... Chile, Jamaica,
Korea DPR are technically higher-ranked than Italy, but they lack international experience outside of Asia. So I hope this is the time Italy could actually get the chance to win Cyprus Cup! They lost last edition's final to Spain, but at this round I feel they could really make it!
Switzerland have indicated they are headed for Algarve Cup: https://www.womenssoccerunited.com/switzerland-to-participate-at-the-2019-algarve-cup/ And if not all of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Portugal are I will be flabbergasted.
Not really? They're not senior tournaments, their influence on everything else is pretty minimal. It'd be weird listing them in the same document as senior team windows.
New Zealand can't be participating in two tournaments at once(Aussie & Pinatar). Have the 6 associations been confirmed for the Pinatar? Looking like Spain, Russia, Poland + three more.
Also they are no compulsory release for those tournament and clubs can keep their players if they want. This happen with England U teams. when young players are regulars at first team level.
SheBelieves Cup : USA, Japan, England, Brazil Algarve Cup : Scotland, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Netherlands Cyprus Cup : Czech Republic, Finland, North Korea, South Africa, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, Austria, Belgium, Nigeria, Slovakia Aussie Cup : Australia, Argentina, South Korea, New-Zealand Pinatar Cup : Spain, Russia, Poland Turkish Cup: ??? Still available(Top 40): Germany, France, Canada, China, Iceland, Ukraine, Colombia, Wales, Ireland, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Chile, Chinese Taipei, plus World Cup participants Cameroon(46) & Jamaica(53).
I mean, if they get a fair number of non-UEFA teams, it'll be good for the sport since there aren't enough inter-confederation games at that level, which skews the rankings somewhat down there.