Women’s football is experiencing a surge, breaking attendance records, drawing new investment and inspiring a new generation of players and fans.World Sevens Football (W7F) , a new seven-a-side series, aims to take advantage of this boom. It brings faster, more dynamic matches to fans worldwide while giving players an opportunity for a significant financial reward.However, the inaugural event, which will take place in Estoril, Portugal, from May 21-23, has drawn criticism for one participating club, Rosengard, disrupting the Swedish league schedule and the tournament adding to player workloads ahead of the Women’s Euros in July.Created to redefine the women’s gameThe idea for World Sevens Football came from the series’ co-founders, entrepreneur Justin Fishkin and NY/NJ Gotham FC and Chelsea minority owner Jennifer Mackesy, with the latter having committed to an investment of $100 million (€88.7 million) over five years. They have not disclosed how much other shareholders may have invested.“This project has come from our (Fishkin’s and Macksey’s) shared passion for women’s football and the new formats that are proliferating through various sports around the world,” Fishkin told DW.The games are to feature two 15-minute halves on a pitch half the size of a standard 11-a-side field. The smaller pitch was set up within the multi-use Antonio Coimbra da Mota Stadium, including custom-made areas for fans, activations and entertainment to help differentiate the atmosphere from a regular football game. In an age of digital-first entertainment, Fishkin believes that the shorter format and smaller pitch, as has also been tried on the men’s side, is ideally suited to attract younger fans. “The emerging sports fan globally is less inclined to sit down for 90 minutes and watch a game,” he said. “Seven-a-side is made for social media. It’s familiar, fast, and accessible.”Putting players firstOne of the series’ defining features is its player-centric approach. The Player Advisory Council is made up of current and former players, including Tobin Heath, Anita Asante and Caroline Seger. Seger, a two-time Olympic silver medalist with Sweden, told DW that the advisory council’s purpose is to help shape player care and welfare and the competition strategy and make a positive long-term impact on the players and clubs.“It’s very important to see it from the players’ perspective, because normally everyone else is making decisions above the players’ heads,” she explained.“Anything, from traveling to the facilities, how the game should be played, what players want to eat after a game. Sometimes it’s small things, but they’re all important.”Fishkin echoed the reasoning behind adopting the Player Advisory Council. “It was critical to us that this be a player-centric competition,” he said. “We needed it to be designed by people who know and love the game.”Financial rewards significantClubs will be allowed to bring a squad of 25, with 14 eligible to play per match. The tournament prize pool is $5 million, including $2.5 million for the winners. That is significantly more than the €1.4 million the Champions League victors will earn.The prize money for the top four teams will be divided between clubs and their players and staff, with the exact distribution determined by each club. The teams that finish fifth to eighth will receive a participation fee, and the tournament’s organizers are to pay for each team’s flights and accommodation.“You’ll see that 40% of the prize monies are going directly to players and staff,” Fishkin said. “We’ve had teams where captains have said, ‘We wanted to make sure everyone (all first team players at the club) gets paid, not just the players that participate,’ and that’s being driven from the players up to management.”Swedish league schedule clashThe financial rewards drew immediate interest from the inaugural eight teams, which include Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Ajax and Roma.However, as World Sevens Football is a series that has not been sanctioned by either FIFA or UEFA and is therefore outside of the world football calendar, decisions on participation rest solely at the discretion of the clubs.With the competition not being part of the football calendar, Rosengard, a club in Sweden’s top-flight league, had to request to move their first division league match against Hacken, which is scheduled for May 24, to participate in the inaugural event in Portugal.This has drawn criticism from Swedish league leaders Hammarby and former Swedish international defender Hanna Marklund.
