How the FIFA Women’s Club World Cup could help lessen disparity in player loading

The global union for professional soccer players, FIFPRO, released a study Tuesday in combination with Football Benchmark on the state of the global women’s football calendar. Their research found a growing disparity in opportunities between players who represent countries at the highest levels of the international game and those who don’t.

At both the domestic and international levels, some players are being overloaded with matches while others are not getting enough chances and are being underloaded.

This is hardly a new problem for women’s soccer, which has historically received less support from its governing bodies than its male counterparts. However, the upcoming inaugural FIFA Women’s Club World Cup could help force change among domestic leagues and create pressure or incentives to provide more opportunities.

Among FIFPRO’s recommended measures to protect player health and performance and increase professionalism was to create “new competitions or the expansion of leagues and other competitions to provide more games for underloaded players.”

In May, FIFA announced that the first Women’s Club World Cup will be held in January and February 2026. While this tournament could fill that void, it must be done with a concerted effort. Over half a year later, we still don’t know where the Women’s Club World Cup will be held, how teams will qualify, or where fans will be able to watch the new competition.

Despite the lack of urgency from FIFA, this is still a rare chance for soccer’s governing body to launch a new competition that could truly improve the women’s soccer ecosystem.

And the landscape seems very eager to welcome it.

How does underloading impact even the most dependable club players?

In NWSL, defender Kaleigh Kurtz is a mainstay for the North Carolina Courage as one of the league’s best defenders. She’s also one of its most durable players. Kurtz finished the year as an ironwoman, playing every minute of the Courage’s season, including 26 regular season matches, a playoff game and four matches in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup.

The center-back played 2,790 competitive minutes from March 16 through Nov. 9 — an average of 82 minutes per week. Assuming the 2025 NWSL season kicks off at a similar point of the calendar, Kurtz now faces a four-month dormant period without access to a meaningful match. For players who weren’t as involved as Best XI-caliber options like Kurtz, the scarcity is even more pronounced.

Even a sure-starter falls victim to underload if they aren’t involved internationally. FIFPRO’s broader survey found that players whose teams compete in the more common fall-to-spring cadence are limited to an average of 33 competitive contests per year — fewer than an average of two games per three weeks.

Players who represent their country in international football will obviously see more action. Sophia Smith’s dual starring role for the Portland Thorns and the United States led to 61 appearances in 2024. However, only nine players made at least 52 appearances throughout the 2023/24 season.

Table courtesy of FIFPRO / Football Benchmark

That lack of opportunity is more pronounced for players in nations with less robust domestic leagues. FIFPRO studied the 2024 Olympic squads, where 12 national teams each selected 18 players and four alternates: a sample of 264 players.

Fifty-five percent of those Olympians played their club football in the NWSL, England’s Women’s Super League and Spain’s Liga F. Five nations saw fewer than 11 percent of their squad playing club soccer in their domestic league, with Canada and Nigeria fielding entire squads of players who aren’t playing in their home nation.

How else would a Club World Cup provide more opportunities?

In addition to providing more incentives to invest in domestic leagues, a Club World Cup would also address a secondary concern for clubs based outside Europe. Currently, no confederation has as robust of a continental tournament as the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Even a star player who regularly starts for their national team can’t replace those cross-league stakes.

“I wanted to go to France because I wanted to play in the Champions League,” Alex Morgan told ESPN’s Futbol W podcast last week. Morgan moved to France in 2017 to play for Lyon where she won a French treble, including Champions League.

“Playing in the U.S. or North America just doesn’t offer (that) because it is a European tournament,” she said. “So having the Club World Cup and being able to compete with the best club teams around the world I think truly levels the playing field.”

It’s a sentiment that dovetails nicely with FIFPRO’s findings. On the relevance of underload, they wrote that “ensuring a more proportionate distribution of competitive matches” is crucial. They also added that “continued expansion of competitions such as league development across the globe should be a priority for competition organizers.”

Organizers, most notably including FIFA.

The FIFPRO report also noted a disproportionate advantage for European nations due to the strength of its Champions League. This week, Europe’s governing soccer body announced a second-tier club competition, the Women’s Europa Cup, to add further opportunities for clubs beyond its highest echelon, but other confederations’ continental competitions lack the requisite number of well-supported leagues to keep stride.

How can FIFA capitalize on the gap in competition?

The Club World Cup can fill gaps and incentivize confederations beyond UEFA to encourage better support and infrastructure around the women’s game. However, the tournament must be curated with diligent and meticulous care to ensure player safety and support.

There is a certain apathy around the men’s Club World Cup, which debuted in 2000 and was held every year from 2005 through 2023 fielding either six or seven teams. The 2025 installment is the first with a newly expanded format, taking place in the United States next summer with 32 teams participating. The tournament has struggled to garner support beyond the ranks of FIFA’s leadership.

The global body couldn’t find a broadcast partner for the upcoming tournament until early December when DAZN stepped up. Players are openly considering whether it’s worth protesting the tournament due to an increasingly congested calendar. FIFA’s usually dependable and lucrative suite of sponsors has also been reluctant to put their brands and big checks behind FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s latest project.

However, there’s a more palpable desire for a similar competition in the women’s game.

One newly prioritized competition won’t fix all of women’s football issues as it looks to create a robust and well-supported ecosystem. This would require serious investment to maximize its impact, from not cutting corners on organizing the tournament to luring wealthy sponsors and backers to ensure a nice chunk of change for participants beyond the medalists.

Still, it’s a concept that carries significant merit and support from players. At a time when the men’s Club World Cup is being widely panned in its run-up, a Women’s Club World Cup seems like a possible easy win for FIFA in the court of public opinion. To find that kind of favorable audience while also meaningfully improving the state of women’s football is a rare opportunity that FIFA would be foolish to continue overlooking.

(Top photo: Fabrice Coffrini /AFP via Getty Images)