A new seven-on-seven women's soccer tournament featuring notable European club teams vying for a $5 million purse kicks off in Portugal on Wednesday.
The tournament has an eight-team field, including Manchester City and Bayern Munich, playing in what organizers have called fast and high-scoring matches.
Matches will be played from Wednesday to Saturday at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota in Estoril, ahead of the Women's Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona on Sunday in Lisbon.
The tournament was co-founded by Jennifer Mackesy, who has an ownership stake in Gotham FC and Chelsea, and entrepreneur Justin Fishkin. The matches will be broadcast on the sports streaming platform DAZN.
What to know about World Sevens Football, or W7F:
The Format
The eight European teams — Ajax, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma and Rosengard — are separated into two groups of four playing in a round-robin format.
The top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals, followed by a third-place match and final on Saturday.
How it's played
The games are just 30 minutes long, with two 15-minute halves, and played on a smaller pitch. There is no offsides and unlimited rolling substitutions.
In the event of a draw, the sides will be reduced to five players each with a Golden Goal rule.
“It’s fast, it’s going to be a fast game and physically really tough, the two 15-minute halves, so there’s going to be a lot of rotation of players and roll-on roll-off subs," Manchester City interim coach Nick Cushing said. “I think it’s going to be a really exciting form of the game.”
The tournament is not sanctioned by either UEFA or FIFA.
Who is playing?
Each of the clubs can roster 25 players and dress 14 per match. Manchester City, for example, was only sending 15 of its players. Because of injuries, stars Vivianne Miedema and Bunny Shaw weren't included.
Manchester United is sending 20 players, including American goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce and England midfielder Ella Toone.
Ajax prepared to take its entire squad, according to coach Dolf Roks, and even practiced for the event.
The tournament comes just ahead of a FIFA international window, with national teams gearing up for the European Championships.
“We put the decision on competing at the tournament to the players several weeks ago and are pleased they want to take part. We’ll travel to Portugal with the whole team, but not everyone will play,” said Bianca Rech, director of women’s football for Bayern Munich. “Some will continue their recovery from injury there, while some players who are going to be competing at the Euros will train separately to prepare for the international games coming up.”
Wiegman weighs in
England coach Sarina Wiegman said the national team was in contact with players about taking part, trusting the players to make decisions for themselves ahead of the international window and the Euros.
“Everyone has a different schedule and comes from different places. So, if you talk about Lauren (Hemp) and Alex (Greenwood), it's different, and other players who have played throughout the whole season,” Wiegman said. "Also some players see it as an opportunity to, in a different way, get some training, playing minutes in — being aware of don't overload, be smart, because there's bigger picture in this."
Big payday
The winner receives $2.5 million. The runner-up gets $1 million and the third- and fourth-place teams split the rest. The teams determine the allocation to players and staff.
The other teams will receive a participation fee, with transportation and accommodations paid for by tournament organizers.
Going forward
Organizers have said they hope to expand the event to more teams in the future, including clubs from the National Women's Soccer League in the United States and Liga MX Femenil from Mexico.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press
