Manchester City goalkeeper Khiara Keating dived to make the save, and her team-mates shared solemn high-fives, muted head nods and a dutiful huddle. Because what are the rules here? As valiant and tenacious as Newcastle United were, how much are you allowed to celebrate after winning a penalty shootout 7-6 in the Subway Womens League Cup group stage against second-division opposition?
Really, the question is something bigger altogether, one that arises every year as the air turns colder and grey becomes a primary colour: when are we allowed to get excited about the League Cup?
A 15-year staple of English womens football, the League Cup has spent much of its existence lurking in an esoteric corner of the game, glaring at the FA Cup and Womens Super League season.
Which is why an entire weekend dedicated solely to the second phase of the League Cups group stage before the international break had the potential to be greeted with, if not fireworks, at least discordant party poppers and a goals montage preview soundtracked to a TikTok remix of a 1990s classic.
Instead, the competitions arrival this weekend felt sneaky, almost apologetic, and thats the reality of the League Cup in its current form, a competition that feels bound to a leather couch, fielding questions of its personhood what are you, really, League Cup?
This year, the answer to the last one was more mortal than existential, with WSL Football, the leagues governing body, reportedly considering the future of the competition in an already-crowded womens football ecosystem.
The merits of doing so arent absurd. Investment in womens football is growing, but would it not be better to siphon that into one or two avenues rather than splitting it among multiple competitions? With so many players and stakeholders voicing concerns over player burnout and welfare, surely an oft-forgotten cup competition presents a ripe opportunity for scrapping? And really, how many coupons for Subway can one need?
For the record, The Athletic is not making an argument to stuff the League Cup. Having three domestic trophies is a charming European rite and a far more appropriate verbal missile to hurl at rival fans on match day than domestic double.
Other upshots include the addressing of playing under-loading for those outside the top teams in the WSL, or players on the fringes of their club or national teams, while the opportunity to showcase WSL2 clubs against WSL clubs under such direct lights could be crucial to getting more investment into the second tier.
Yet, for many of the hyper-loyal members of the unofficial League Cup Preservation Society, the core argument turns on potential. Providing 24 teams with an opportunity for silverware is a fine argument, were it not for the demonstrable flaw that in its entire existence, only Chelsea (three-time winners), Manchester City (four) and Arsenal (seven) have lifted the Womens League Cup.
Across its 14 finals, only three other clubs outside the victors have featured: Bristol City (2021), Birmingham City (2011, 2012, 2016) and Lincoln City, who became Notts County (2013, 2015).
The thing is, the League Cup does turn on potential, particularly as WSL Football wrestles with its need for more gripping theatre in increasingly static waters. It is also a competition that has constantly changed. The group stage was added in 2012, then scrapped for a straight knockout tournament, then brought back again.
So, in an era when womens football touts its ability to do things differently, why not find a different way to generate serious interest?
Points to start: the group stage and its confected jeopardy in penalty shootouts; the unsual points scoring (despite losing in the penalty shootout, Newcastle walked away from Sundays fixture with a point while Manchester City walked away with two); the controversial reality that Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea (all competing in the Champions League and so entering the completion at the quarter-final stage) only need to win three matches to lift the trophy.
One of the biggest issues remains broadcast. While Sky Sports has the option to show League Cup games as part of the new WSL deal, no games were on the channel over the weekend. Marketing was left to the clubs and their various social channels, matches were streamed on the WSLs official YouTube Channel or via club streams and, ultimately, they got lost in the shuffle of televised sport.
The on-pitch results were hardly surprising, either. Everton also managed a penalty shootout win over WSL2 opposition, beating Nottingham Forest. Meanwhile, Brighton & Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City, Aston Villa and Sheffield United got the better of Southampton, Birmingham City, London City, Bristol City and Sunderland. They are relatively predictable outcomes but still warrant treatment greater than this.
There is an opportunity for the League Cup. The fact that the tournament was without a sponsor following the expiration of Continental Tyres commitment between the close of the 2023-24 campaign and January 2025 was a testament to the difficult sales pitch the competition presents, and its ongoing failure to fulfil its potential.
This is not meant to be an angry attack on WSL Football, which is getting a good deal right: the lift in minimum standards, the record £65million ($84.3m) domestic five-year TV deal with Sky Sports and BBC, a growing throng of intrigued investors, and that £1m, multi-year League Cup sponsorship deal. For seven months, the League Cup sat cold and sponsor-less after Continental Tyres commitment ran its course. The lack of a sponsor seemed to reinforce the difficult sales pitch the competition presents, its ongoing failure to fulfil its potential.
But there is potential for this under-served competition. All it needs is some love and a bit of original guidance to find itself amid the competitive maelstrom.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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