Reigning Champions Stumble, And Inter Win in Women's Serie A Opener

WLS

We were treated to two fantastic top-of-the-table clashes, which started with Manchester United vs. Chelsea, the only two unbeaten teams in the league. That remained the case after the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw. Wieke Kaptein opened the scoring for the Blues after nine minutes, with Anna Sandberg equalising in the 20th minute. Both teams had chances to win the game, but the points were shared.

Around 15 hours later, Manchester City welcomed Arsenal to the Manchester City Joie Stadium. The game was one of the best of the season so far, with the Citizens winning 3-2, but they were pegged back twice. Chloe Kelly thought she had rescued a point against her former team. However, teenage Swiss star Iman Beney struck to give the home team all three points and put them hot on the heels of Chelsea at the top of the standings.

Tottenham Hotspur moved up to third in the table with a 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. London City Lionesses got their second win of the season with a controversial penalty in the final minutes against Liverpool. The Reds and West Ham remain without any points, having lost 2-0 at home to Aston Villa.

Women’s Bundesliga

With a resounding victory against SGS Essen, VfL Wolfsburg took the top spot in the table on the fifth match day of the season. The Wolfsburg women won 8-0 against the bottom-placed team. Vivien Endemann and Kessya Bussy both scored twice. Ella Peddemors, Janina Minge, Lineth Beerensteyn and Cora Zicai were the other goal scorers.

FC Bayern follows suit: They beat Werder Bremen 4-0 and are now level on points and goal difference with Wolfsburg. Giulia Gwinn played her 150th competitive match for FC Bayern Munich against Bremen. The traditional club has not conceded a single goal this season!

Next Saturday, the two title favourites will face off against each other.

Freiburg, currently third in the table, won 3-0 against Union Berlin on Sunday. This puts them one point ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt, who won 3-1 against Carl Zeiss Jena, and Leverkusen, with 10 points. However, Leverkusen could still catch up, as there was an incident during their match at the weekend:

The match between 1. FC Köln and Bayer 04 Leverkusen got off to an excellent start for the Cologne women: after just 26 seconds, they took a 1-0 lead in front of their home crowd. But after 37 minutes, the match had to be abandoned. The reason: the floodlights at Cologne's Franz-Kremer-Stadion failed. Referee Annika Kost initially interrupted the game. However, after waiting for over an hour, she decided to abandon the match altogether. According to the DFB, the rescheduling of the game will be announced shortly. Nuremberg drew 1-1 with RB Leipzig, and HSV lost 1-4 to Hoffenheim.

Liga F

Barcelona pulled further ahead at the top of the table thanks to a 4-0 win andAtléticoo Madrid dropping points. Lauren had given the home team the lead in the 86th minute, and it looked to be the winner. However, two minutes later, Jone Amezaga equalised for Athletic Club. That was their fourth draw in six games, and they have failed to win a game this season.

Real Madrid returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over FC Badalona, securing a welcome three points. Sociedad lost their first game of the season, a 2-1 home defeat to CD Tenerife. The home side were 2-0 down after 22 minutes, but did pull one back in the 35th minute thanks to Edna Imade. Sociedad controlled possession but failed to test goalkeeper Noelia Ramos, with Tenerefe defending well. The win keeps them unbeaten, making them the only team, alongside Barcelona and Atlético Madrid, not to have lost.

Serie A Women

Serie A has finally kicked off! Can Juventus defend their championship title? Or will they be trumped by Inter? And Roma will probably have something to say about it too...It wasn't just the Bundesliga that saw high-scoring victories; Serie A also saw plenty of goals. Inter won their opening game against newly promoted Ternana 5-0. They were the clearly stronger team with a broad squad – five different players scored goals. From the 35th minute onwards, Ternana had only ten players on the pitch because Eleonora Pacioni was sent off with a red card after a foul.

The first game was also a clear-cut affair for Roma. The Romans won 4-0 at home against Parma. Here, too, there were four different goal scorers. The third team to pick up three points in their opening game was Milan. The Rossonere came from behind to win their season opener against Genoa after trailing 1-0. Evelyn Ijeh scored the equaliser in the 84th minute and Emma Koivisto added a second in the 97th minute – a strong performance from the Finnish defender!

Juventus did not get off to such a good start to the season: surprisingly, Le Bianconere were unable to perform as well in their first match as we have come to expect from the Serie A Women's Cup winners. They only managed a 0-0 draw against Sassuolo. As reigning champions, they had certainly hoped for more from this match. But at least Swiss newcomer Lia Wälti was able to make her Serie A debut in the 74th minute. For FC Sassuolo, who finished third from bottom last season, this point is extremely valuable.

Como lost their first home game of the league season 1–2 to Lazio. Napoli beat Fiorentina 1–0 thanks to a goal from Floe.

Arkema Première Ligue

After the thumping they took from rivals OL Lyonnes last weekend, Paris Saint-Germain got back to winning ways. They beat Dijon FCO 1-0 thanks to a second-half penalty from Sakina Karchaoui. OL Lyonnes scored eight against Lens, with hat-tricks for Liana Joseph and Vicki Becho, with the home team being reduced to ten players at 4-1, with Manon Revelli seeing red.

After winning their opening three games, Paris FC lost in Round 4 to Nantes. The score finished 3-1 with both teams sitting three points behind the league leaders. FC Fleury 95 is also on nine points as they beat Le Havre 1-0.

It was a massive weekend for Les Marseillaises, who won the class of zero-point teams, defeating Saint Etienne 4-0. Melissa Herrera and Mathilde Bourdieu both scored twice in the win.

NWSL

The regular season will be over in less than a month, and things are slowly getting tight: at least eleven teams still want to make it into the top eight.

San Diego Wave continues to fight for its playoff spot. Even against the Washington Spirit, which is already safely among the top eight, they were unable to score any points. After only nine minutes, Spirit took the lead with a goal from Kouassi – and that's how it stayed for a long time. But in the 95th minute, Delphine Cascarino equalised for San Diego. The joy did not last long, though, as Washington Spirit scored again just two minutes later to make it 2-1 – once again it was Kouassi. San Diego's dry spell continues. They have only picked up one point in their last five games and remain in eighth place. Washington Spirit's Trinity Rodman was also angry after the game. In her Instagram story, she complained about the NWSL referees. She said she had been fouled several times and the referee had never blown his whistle. Referees need to officiate these games better. I have no words,' she wrote.

Angel City's first-ever captain, Ali Riley, has announced her retirement. She will finish the season and then hang up her boots. Just this summer, the 37-year-old played her first game back with her hometown club after a year-long injury break. Until the end of the season, she will ‘give everything I have left to give,’ the New Zealand international wrote on Instagram.

Off the Pitch

San Diego Wave FC is going through a tough period on the pitch, and now the club's owners are also embroiled in a legal dispute. The new club owners have sued former team president Jill Ellis. The reason: she lied during the sale negotiations. She claimed that she would remain president of the team even after the sale was completed. According to the lawsuit, this was one of the ‘key reasons’ why Lauren Leichtman and Arthur Levine bought the club in the first place. However, Ellis announced her resignation just a few days after the purchase, and two days later, FIFA introduced her as its ‘Chief Football Officer’. The Leichtman Levines are convinced that Ellis was already in contact with FIFA during the negotiations.

Ellis's solicitor countered in a statement that the lawsuit was ‘unfounded’. It was merely a kind of ‘retaliatory measure’ because Ellis had requested money (approximately $1.2 million) from the club that had been promised to her in her contract. Levine and Leichtman are seeking damages, claiming that her departure caused the club financial losses of around $40 million.

The club wants to be kept out of the whole affair. A statement reads: ‘This is a legal matter between Levine Leichtman Family Office and Jill Ellis. San Diego Wave FC is not a party to this legal dispute.’

Champions League

The UEFA Women's Champions League group stage kicks off this week.

Tuesday

Juventus - Benfica Lisbon
Paris FC - Oud-Heverlee Leuven
Arsenal - Olympique Lyon
FC Barcelona - FC Bayern Munich

Wednesday

Real Madrid - AS Roma
Twente - Chelsea FC
Manchester United - Vålerenga Oslo
St. Pölten - Atlético Madrid
Wolfsburg - Paris Saint-Germain