Understood or strange format of WSL Players Cup that makes it impossible to conquer Quadruple

♪ I've been waiting for you ♪

English women's football should have noted a new competition in the table of teams from the Women's Super League (WSL) and WSL 2 this season: a Players Cup.

O what motivou a mudança

The Players Cup is the old Copa da Liga (League Cup) with a new name, after years of debate about its format and competitive credibility.The central problem was structural: WSL and WSL 2 clubs were divided into regional groups (north and south), followed by matches in March but the teams that played in UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) could not advance to the quarter-finals.

The result was predictable: the minor clubs were worn out in the initial phase, and the giants entered ready at the final.Only three clubs have lifted the Copa da Liga: Chelsea, Arsenal e Manchester City.

This year, however, there will be an unprecedented champion.These three are out of the competition due to their participation in the UWCL a new rule excludes teams playing in Europe.This opens the way, but also ended up as a dream for European clubs.Arsenal remains, so far, the only team to have won it four times, achieving this feat in 2006-07, when they won the Champions League (then called UEFA Women's Cup) and all national titles that season.

How the new format works

The draw took place last month, but the confusing format raised almost as many questions as it answered.

The competition adopted elements of the Swiss model used in UWCL: a single league table, with the top eight advancing to the knockout stage.

There's another curious detail: if there is a tie in normal time, no extra-time.

After six games, the eight best players advance to Wednesday in January: 1st against 8th, 2nd against 7th and so on, with a command advantage for the top-ranked player.

The distribution of opponents is also not uniform: Everton, for example, will face two teams from the WSL and four from WSL 2, while London City Lionesses take three from each division.

Do the zebras have any luck?

The situation has changed: Brighton reached the FA Cup final last season, Tottenham played their first final in 2024, and Manchester United reached two FA Cup finals (winning one) and a League Cup final for the first time last season.

O próprio campeão da última Copa da Liga, o Chelsea, também não entrou na fase de liga por estar na Europa. Já o Manchester City, sem competições europeias, won the FA Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Copa da Ligue.[1] The club was eliminated from the competition in the first round by Real Madrid with a goal to be scored on penalties.[2]

This raises a doubt: the Players Cup wouldn't simply turn into the trophy of the great club that became Champions? For the 2025-26 table, this time it would be Manchester United.

O novo formato da própria Champions também serve de referência: times fora da elite, like Manchester United and OH Leuven, have shown that advancing is possible.

O que muda na gestão dos elencos (How to change the way in which you manage your lists)

A Copa da Liga always had a function beyond the trophy: to round up players, give minutes to youngsters, reintegrate players who came back from Lesão and recover confidence in bad moments in the championship.

This balance was difficult.Our smaller clubs complained about the lack of competitive minutes; our big ones had the opposite problem: a full calendar, now with even more FIFA competitions such as the Champions Cup and Club World Cup.

Curiously, the three excluded clubs didn't feel so much of this benefit: as they entered directly into matches, almost not rotating, scalando times próximos aos usados na liga e na Europa. The new format can help on both sides give minutes to quem jogou pouco and alleviate a carga de quem joga demais.

WSL itself stressed that the players consulted evaluated the change in a positive way: according to an entity, they see competition as valuable, believe that the structure will increase competitiveness and recognize that well-being and development are the main drivers.

Where the scales will fall but competitiveness or just a trophy has but for the best time outside of Europe só o tempo dirá.