Blackburn WITHDRAW girls’s staff from second tier over ‘monetary restraints’ – as league chiefs label resolution ‘a tragic day for soccer’

Blackburn Rovers have controversially opted to withdraw their girls’s staff from the second tier, citing ‘rising monetary and operational restraints tied to Tier 2 standing’.

WSL Soccer, who’ve not too long ago taken possession of the highest two divisions of the ladies’s pyramid, mentioned that Rovers have been unable to satisfy the standards wanted to stay in WSL2 (previously the Championship) earlier than the deadline handed on Monday, Might 19.

In an announcement outlining their decision-making course of, Rovers mentioned: ‘Key elements influencing this resolution embody the numerous rise in minimal standards set by the league, together with prolonged contact hours for gamers and the requirement for a full-time skilled contract mannequin, a rise in staffing ranges, resulting in additional escalating wage prices, and a larger pressure on coaching floor and stadium amenities.’

Rovers completed the 2024-25 season in tenth, one place above relegated Sheffield United – who may very well be reinstated. 

It stays to be seen in the meantime which tier Rovers will drop down into.

WSL Soccer CEO Nikki Doucet mentioned: ‘This can be a unhappy day for ladies’s soccer and our hearts exit to the gamers, workers and followers at Blackburn Rovers FC Ladies affected by this resolution.

‘We’ve got been working with the membership all season to forestall this consequence, and we’re disillusioned it has come to this. 

‘We’ll do all we are able to to assist present present gamers and workers members on the membership alternatives to allow them to stay within the girls’s recreation.

‘Ladies’s soccer is on a journey, and while it stays in a financially fragile place, the sport is rising and there might be brighter days forward.’