Arsenal have just announced they will play a friendly in Melbourne, Australia on May 24 against an A-League Women all stars.

This is a post-season friendly that will take place six days after the final League game on Saturday 18 May at home to Brighton. It clearly looks like a very good commercial opportunity to promote the club in Australia, especially with our three local players: Steph Catley, Kyra Cooney-Cross, and Caitlin Foord.

Sporting Director, Edu Gaspar said: “We’re so happy our women’s team will be playing in Australia for the first time ever this May.

“We’re really proud that this special match against A League Allstars Women will give our supporters in Australia a fantastic opportunity to see our players in action and give our players a chance to connect with everyone who loves the game there.

“We all shared in the excitement, saw huge attendances and viewing figures of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia. This is a chance for us to build on that in partnership with the A League which is experiencing its own exciting growth too.””

The Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall also mentioned in his press conference how good a commercial opportunity it was: “Let’s acknowledge the great thing that it’s commercially viable for us to do a post-season trip like this. That shows the club’s investment but also the popularity that the team has, not only in the UK but across the globe.”

On the players’ health side, this is not a great idea. Three days after the game, the June international window will take place. It last from the May 27 to June 4. Australia, Canada and the USA will be playing friendlies in preparation for the Paris Olympics.

Australia will play two matches at home, so it is a benefit for our three players. For the other ones, a decision will be made prior to the trip:

“It is now about making the most out of that opportunity. That means that for some players it will be the right thing to go, and for others it will not be the right thing if we talk about it from a loading and welfare perspective. We need to make good and deliberate decisions on that.”

There is an important quote about the players loading and preparation for the key games in the Euro 2025 qualifiers: “We play our last competitive game on May 17 and the normal thing would have been to go on holiday after that. But then there is an international period of fixtures that I think starts on May 27, where they are playing competitive games. So, it was a clear wish from both the players and association teams to say can we not go on holiday in that period to help the players prepare.”

The fact that some FAs decided not to give a break to their players between the end of the League and the start of the international break is also an indication that the players’ loading is not easy to manage.

It has to be said that the Champions League final will be played on Saturday 25 May, two days before the international break and six days before the England v France game, for example.

So who will make the trip besides the three Australian players? If we have any player not called up for international duty, like Kim Little, those players will come to the tour.

The manager said: “It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to see our first-year professionals get experience of travelling and playing with us. We really need to grab that opportunity to invest time in these players, in combination with needing to have a strong team going out to showcase Arsenal to fans in another continent and the way we want to play football.”

It means Naomi Williams, Michelle Agyemang, Freya Godfrey should be on the trip to Australia, and maybe those who were on dual signing like Laila Harbert, Katie Reid and Ruby Doe. Other youngsters who trained regularly with the first team this season include Vivienne Lia and Madison Earl.

So it will definitely be a mixed team that will travel to Australia and play the A-League all stars in Melbourne.