The women’s league cup is getting a shake-up, as this is the last season in which a team can win the quadruple.
Teams that qualify for the league phase of the Women’s Champions League will no longer be allowed to participate in the League Cup.
This comes after fans described the competition as irrelevant and called for it to be scrapped altogether. Still, this change is part of new plans aimed at revamping the competition and ensuring that teams outside Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City have a chance of winning the trophy.
This season will be the last time a team can win the quadruple apart from Arsenal in 2006/7 though this was not in the modern era.
This format change is deemed necessary to help ease scheduling issues and to protect players' welfare, something that players have recently spoken about, especially around game congestion leading to a lack of recovery, which directly increases chances of injuries.
Clubs have voted in favour of the proposal to be introduced for the 2026/27 season, which still needs to be approved by the FA.
Removing the teams who feature in the Champions League will help reduce the number of minutes of their players.
The Champions League expanded to 18 teams this season with more matches.
Manchester United, Chelsea and holders Arsenal are in the top European competition this season.
The competition will also get a revamp with the prosed league format used this season in the champions league tor place the group stage.
Meaning all teams are ranked in a single league table with fixtures being dictated by region.
The knockout phase of the competition will remain the same, with the top eight teams in the league table qualifying for the quarterfinals.
League Cup matches will be played on the same nights that Champions League matches are due to be scheduled.
The proposals follow a WSL Football-led comprehensive consultation process with a competition working group, which included clubs and the Football Supporters' Association.
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