The Covid-19 virus has created mayhem worldwide and obviously football is not immune to it. With all professional football cancelled until at least April 3rd, what does it mean for the FA WSL?

As of today, here is the postponed match list:

• Birmingham v Brighton
• Arsenal v Reading
• Manchester United v West Ham
• Tottenham v Birmingham
• Reading v Brighton
• Liverpool v Manchester City
• Chelsea v Everton
• Bristol v Arsenal
• Birmingham v Manchester United
• Everton v Liverpool
• West Ham v Everton
• Manchester United v Manchester City
• West Ham v Arsenal
• Everton v Birmingham
• Tottenham v Chelsea
• Reading v Liverpool
• Brighton v Bristol

These are the game that have been previously re-scheduled:

• Tottenham v Bristol 19 April
• West Ham v Manchester City 22 April
• Liverpool v Birmingham 22 April
• Liverpool v Manchester United 03 May
• Bristol City v West Ham 03 May
• Everton v Chelsea 03 May
• Birmingham v Reading 06 May
• Bristol v Reading 10 May
• Manchester United v Chelsea 12 May
• Arsenal v Tottenham 13 May

The official end of season is planned for May 16th. Clearly, that is not going to happen. But the biggest problem is of course the current postponement might carry on as long as the virus is dangerous and it might be a long while.

And here are the practical problems that the clubs will encounter when football resumes:

Pitch availability

As we all know, women’s football sides share pitches with other teams, sometimes even with two teams, like Spurs Women at the Hive. With all the men’s football games also postponed and needing to be re-arranged, there will be a lot of congestion and pitch availability will be at a premium. Not to mention that the pitches will need to be relaid during the summer, especially those who suffered a lot this season.

Players contracts

Most players in women’s football have only a one or two-year contract. Therefore, they will be out of contract around June 1. Should the season be extended, players will need an extension or they might be away to a new club and unable to complete the season.

The same in reverse could happen as well. The new transfers might come in before the end of the season. As the transfer window will open on June 19, new signings will be able to play as they would be legally registered with the FA WSL clubs.

Olympics

The tournament is set to take place July 22 to August 7. Should the League being played later in the year, that would create a huge problem as players would probably have to jump straight to the Olympic tournament from their League games. Obviously, the Olympics might be delayed anyway and that problem would be solved.

Euro 21 qualifiers

The April international window is already off as per the FIFA decision to allow teams to keep their players. It is all dependent on the men’s Euro 2020 potential postponement and if it will impact the Euro 2021 tournament.

As a reminder, the men’s semi-final and finals will be played at Wembley Stadium as well as the Women’s final. Should the men’s Euro be delayed by a year, there is a big risk of the competitions overlapping.

And all those April qualifiers will need to be rescheduled during the summer 2020 or the 2020/21 season.

All will be revealed on Tuesday when UEFA make a decision on all the problems encountered because the of the Covid-19.

So, will the FA WSL 2019/20 season be completed and what will happen if not? Relegation/promotion, Champions League qualification, there will be some tough decisions to be made by the FA sooner or later.