Women’s Club World Cup could be launched ‘fairly soon’, European Club Association confirms

European Club Association chief executive Charlie Marshall believes there is great potential to develop global competitive balance

Chelsea are among the teams battling for the Women’s Champions League (Getty)

A women’s Club World Cup could be set up “fairly soon” according to European Club Association (ECA) chief executive Charlie Marshall.

The potential for the new tournament is seen as a key part of the strategy to help develop women’s football, with the ‘Be a Changemaker’ campaign launched this week.

The priority is “driving sustainability within the game, identifying new commercial opportunities and creating new women’s football clubs across Europe”, the ECA confirmed on Twitter.

The men’s Club World Cup has been running since 2000, with winners of major intercontinental competitions playing each other in a knockout format. Bayern Munich are the defending champions.

“The prospect of a Club World Cup, fairly soon in the women’s game, assuming that calendars can be resolved, is a really exciting one and I know Fifa is very keen on it as well,” Marshall told reporters.

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“In the women’s game there is much more potential, much more quickly, to develop global competitive balance.”

ECA’s new head of women’s football Claire Bloomfield said there were also plans for a second-tier European competition, like the men’s Europa League, for women.

“We have a responsibility to explore all opportunities that can help grow the competition landscape, both on a European level with a second-tier competition and then on a much more global scale, with a possible Club World Cup,” Bloomfield said.