The Women's FA Cup is one of the longest-serving women's football competitions in the country, one with prestige and history.
Though this season is on the wrong side of history, some fans have been left frustrated over the regression in broadcast coverage, with a lot of fixtures, including those that have the fan base to bring a digital audience, like Arsenal and Chelsea, not having live access. These have no streams whatsoever, so if you cannot attend the game, you can only watch the match in full 24 hours later if the club decides to release the footage.
One fan described the situation as: “Welcome to the Nikki Doucet era of women’s football in England.” Doucet is the CEO of the WSL, the independent entity that manages the top two women’s football leagues, and critics note that she has spent more on rebranding logos than on growing the game itself.
TNT holds the broadcast rights to the competition for the first time this year, but they only wanted to host the men's events, and the FA said they had to do both, as they are only broadcasting 19 games across the season. Those games are again behind another paywall. Only one match per round, from the third round onwards, will be free-to-air on Channel 4.
If the game has not been chosen for broadcast, the only options are club match updates, radio coverage, and social media updates.
While this is the case for early-round matches due to production costs, scheduling conflicts, and the prioritisation of matches expected to attract larger audiences, such games are few and far between nowadays in women's football, given the game's growth. At the same time, the games like Arsenal v Bristol or Chelsea v Crystal Palace should have been prioritised as they are expected to attract larger audiences, especially as the Arsenal one is to be hosted at Borehamwood, which has a capacity of 4,500 compared to the 40,000+ tickets they could sell for an Emirates WSL game. Therefore,e there will be fans who cannot get tickets to the match and will want to stream it.
This limited broadcast coverage has major consequencesforf the visibility and audience growth of the women's game. Matches involving big teams are often the entry point for casual fans. Given the history of the FA Cup and the aura it possesses, these are the games that attract new audiences and build fan bases, but if they are not available, that does not happen.
The FA Cup thrives on a storyline that features a lower-league team beating a WSL or Premier League side, a game going to penalties, star players, historic rivalries, and potential upsets. Without broadcasts, continuity is lost, limiting engagement beyond fans following live blogs or social media.
While this limited broadcast might save TNT money, it is a commercial damper for clubs, limiting sponsors, advertisers and broadcasters from struggling to see consistent returns if marquee matches are not available to a national audience, weakening the case for future investment. Especially with fewer games streamed, more fans feel disconnected from the competition and less invested in it.
When men’s domestic cup games are routinely televised, but women’s equivalents are not, it reinforces the idea that women’s football is secondary, affecting fans, investors, and young players.
The FA does not select which matches are broadcast; that's TNT or Channel Four's decision, and they cannot compel broadcasters to televise additional fixtures, which contributes to limited coverage for certain games.
While this should be a celebration of the women's first stand-alone broadcast deal, it seems more like a mockery of the competition and a highlight of the ongoing gaps and lack of investment in the game.
With all WSL and WSL2 games accessible week in and week out, and the league cup available on YouTube or Sky Sports, this is the only competition at the highest level of women's football that is not getting live coverage for every game.
Something must be done. But what? The contract has been signed, and the deal is done. Could they let clubs whose games aren't chosen to stream on YouTube, or let the WSL stream them?
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