Latest news with #EvertonWomen
BBC News
12 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Could Everton sell their women's team to help with PSR?
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire, speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside about whether Everton could sell their women's team to help with PSR rules: "There has been a new company which has been formed."Everton Football Club Women Limited has been in existence for over a decade, but it looks as if the new owners have set up a company which is linked to the women's team."Could it be that the current owners of Everton Football Club Women, which is Everton Football Club itself, could sell Everton FC Women to this new company which has been set up?"You might say: 'Hold on, well surely that's just transferring things from the left hand to the right hand and overall we're no better off or there's no change?' But in the world of accounting it's very different."It could be this is being done for strategic, planning or tax reasons - or lots of other things."On the basis that Chelsea's women's team was sold for 20 times the amount of revenue it generated, if you take a look at the most recent accounts for Everton's women's team, that means you could probably sell that football club for somewhere in the region of £60-65m and if that was the case that would be pure profit - which goes into your PSR budget and would enhance the ability of Everton to compete in the transfer market."Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds
New York Times
a day ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Everton Women set to sign Rosa van Gool and Hikaru Kitagawa
Everton Women are set to sign Netherlands midfielder Rosa van Gool following the expiration of her contract with Ajax at the end of June. Everton are also expected to sign Japan defender Hikaru Kitagawa from BK Hacken. Kitagawa has six months remaining on her contract with the Swedish side. Kitagawa, 28, was part of Japan's Olympic squad last summer and was also part of the Japan team that won February's invitational SheBelieves Cup in the United States. Van Gool and Kitagawa are expected to be the first of many international signings this summer at Everton under new ownership, The Friedkin Group, who confirmed in May that Goodison Park will be the new home of the women's team. Van Gool, 21, has been part of Ajax's senior set up since 2022, aged 18, after rising through the youth ranks. She signed a two-year deal with Ajax in May 2023. The contract expires at the end of this month. Highly thought of within the national team ranks, Van Gool was part of the Under-20s side that reached the 2022 under-20s World Cup semi-finals in Croatia. Advertisement Van Gool, who was part of the Ajax squad at the World Sevens this summer, recorded the most minutes of any Ajax player in the 2023-24 season, helping Ajax become the first Dutch team to reach the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League following victories over Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Roma in the group stages. Operating mostly in a deeper position in Ajax's central midfield, Van Gool has been praised for her composure and vision on the ball as well as her tenacity off it. At Everton, Van Gool, who began her career as an attacking midfielder, is expected to play further forward in a more creative role. The club has confirmed the departures of 33-year-old midfielder Justine Vanhaevermaet and 25-year-old defender Heather Payne when their contracts expire at the end of the month, while Denmark full-back Sara Holmgaard has joined Real Madrid.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
A new home for Everton Women, all summer targets signed: ‘We have something here'
May 18, 2025. Everton Women manager Brian Sorensen exists in two universes. There is Sorensen Redacted, the version disseminated on Everton's socials. The Danish manager standing in the epicentre of the Goodbye Goodison Park celebrations, accepting the pressure and privilege of making the storied stadium his side's new home. Advertisement Then there is Sorensen Unfiltered or, as Sorensen sees it and those close to the head coach attest, 'just me, Brian'. The man who declared in front of 40,000 or so weepy-eyed Evertonians that 'it's big shoes to fill, but we already made Anfield our training pitch. So we're looking forward to it'. Everton Women have won their four matches at Anfield since 2019 by an aggregate score of 7-1, after all. Amid the bittersweet blue pyro of Goodison's farewell, Sorensen wore a mischievous grin. He winked. The crowd cheered. Three weeks later, in a small office at the top of the Liver Building in which Everton have their headquarters, vestiges of that mischief dance across Sorensen's face when this moment is recalled. 'I don't think about whether I can say something, if I'm successful enough to say it. I just enjoy the ride,' says Sorensen. So, he's enjoying it? A flash of a grin. Advertisement 'The first question I used to get in an interview with an agent and a potential player is: 'Are the men('s team) still going to be supporting you?'. Now, I don't get those questions. Because action speaks louder than words.' Sorensen reclines in an office chair, fresh off the final day of his League Managers Association management diploma. Sporting a retro cream Everton hoodie and bright blue and yellow Nikes, he oozes dangerous levels of zen. 'My last assignment was due on Thursday, I was doing it Wednesday night,' he says. This is not so much procrastination as an example of Sorensen's innate calm, born out of his upbringing in Arden, Denmark. The small railway town was home to his very large family. From the time he was born until Sorensen was 15, days were spent on his grandmother's farm, alongside a rotating compilation of his father's seven siblings and Sorensen's 36 cousins. 'We didn't buy anything from the store,' says Sorensen, who is an adept carpenter like his father and builds climbing frames for his six-year-old daughter, Rose, in their back yard in the south of Liverpool. 'We did everything, built everything, grew everything, we had all types of animals. So you couldn't take things too seriously or dwell too much because we need to put food on the table. Advertisement 'My wife (Camilla) sometimes kills me because things that don't affect me or I can't affect, I'm like, 'Why stress about them? It'll all work out, you know?'. 'I really, hate micromanagement,' he adds. Autonomy, instead, is his currency, a lesson gleaned from his grandmother. 'She's my role model. How she could control 20 kids at one time, on a farm, I have no idea. You give people the tools but trust them to use them right.' Since April 2022, when Sorensen joined Everton from Denmark's Fortuna Hjorring, the past three seasons have turned on savvy survival. Annual squad budgets ranged between £3million and £4m ($4m and $5.4m) due to the club's wider financial plight. Injury crises across Sorensen's first two seasons exacerbated an already gossamer-thin squad. Everton's budget for the start of 2024-25 ranked the lowest in the Women's Super League (WSL), with all seven summer recruits arriving on free transfers. That Everton kept well away from any potential relegation wreckage in all three seasons under Sorensen (they've finished sixth, eighth and eighth) is a testament to the Dane's capacity to build from very little. Advertisement 'All the players we've recruited have done super well for us, they're good people,' he says, 'but I had to play people out of position because I had to take the good players who were available, waiting for clubs to announce their released lists. That's where we've struggled all these years. I had no budget.' This summer, things are different. The WSL summer transfer window does not officially open until June 18 but six new signings have already committed to Everton, with a possible two more to follow. As we speak, an international player, whom Sorensen says he had been attempting to recruit since last October, waits in a room across the hall, ready to put pen to paper. This has been the speed of operation since the Friedkin Group's (TFG) takeover in January. That same month, Everton completed the permanent signings of midfielder Hayley Ladd and striker Kelly Gago from Manchester United and Nantes, along with three loan moves. For the first time in nearly 12 months, Sorensen had a full bench. In April, Sorensen and his assistant manager, Stephen Neligan, signed new contracts, followed by new deals for defenders Kenzie Weir and Clare Wheeler. The following month, Everton confirmed the women's team's historic move to Goodison Park, leaving behind Walton Hall Park, along with the appointment of Hannah Forshaw as chief executive of Everton Women. 'Active' is how Sorensen describes the period. Which feels something of an understatement. Advertisement 'For the first time since I've been here, I got all of my targets,' he adds. 'That's never happened before because we're not in the top of the ranking order.' Sorensen assembles his hands to form a food chain. 'There's Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, then the powerhouses in Spain, France and Germany, then some Italian teams because they pay more.' He drops his hand lower. 'Then there's us.' Under TFG, the ambition is to reposition Everton into the top echelon, as well as be a landing spot for England internationals. No English club was represented in Sarina Wiegman's England Euro 2025 squad outside the top four (although Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang was included after a season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion). Only six Everton players from last season regularly started for their international teams. Sorensen has faith the shift will occur sooner rather than later. He tells the story of TFG's first meeting at Finch Farm in January in front of the club's entire staff and playing teams. 'The first thing they said was they want to support the women's team,' Sorensen says. 'Then they began speaking about the men's team, the academy, so on. That was the first sign of, 'OK, they actually want to support us, they're taking it seriously'.' Advertisement The move to Goodison has been a catalyst — for recruitment but also commercial opportunities. 'Thousands of people (at Goodison on May 18) had probably never watched Everton Women,' Sorensen says. Now? Gates of 10,000 is the ambition, roughly five times the average attendance (2,000) Everton clocked during the 2023-24 season, the second lowest in the WSL. The limitations of Walton Hall Park — 2,200 capacity (half that under a roof) and council ownership meant little could be done to enhance the matchday experience — take some blame. Another avenue for revenue generation is selling shares in Everton Women to investors, similar to Alexis Ohanian's minority stake in Chelsea Women. 'I look at Angel City or Kansas City (in NWSL), the valuation they built from scratch,' Sorensen says. 'We have the best league in the world. If people can understand and see the growth, if they have the American mindset that this is something you should invest in now rather than later, then I don't see why it's not possible to do that in this country.' Or at Everton. 'We have something here,' Sorensen says, reeling off a list: the country's 'best stadium'. A clear playing style. Last season's fifth-best defence in the WSL, despite having a rotating cast that included six different centre-back partnerships, five right-backs and three left-backs. Advertisement Sorensen also knows the value of the collective. His family lived within 15 miles of each other, all skilled tradespeople: plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers. 'The whole family would go over to one sibling's house, do it up in two months, then go to the next one,' he says. Sorensen's recruitment doctrine has roots here, valuing people and teamwork skills above all else, sounding out the opinions of players over those of agents for character references. With most recruitment work finished, Sorensen's summer plans are relaxed. In late May, he travelled back to Denmark with Camilla, their six-week-old son, Milas, and Rose, the latter spending her days on the tractor with her grandad, navigating the fields Sorensen grew up on. Now back in Liverpool, there's a new garden to build, a workout gym for himself and his wife. 'I need to get fit,' he quips. He's already constructed an outdoor gymnastics setup for his daughter, fit with climbing walls, monkey bars, a rubber floor and a television so she can stream practice videos. 'She walks more on her hands than her legs nowadays.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Everton, UK Women's Football 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
09-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
A new home for Everton Women, all summer targets signed: ‘We have something here'
May 18, 2025. Everton Women manager Brian Sorensen exists in two universes. There is Sorensen Redacted, the version disseminated on Everton's socials. The Danish manager standing in the epicentre of the Goodbye Goodison Park celebrations, accepting the pressure and privilege of making the storied stadium his side's new home. Advertisement Then there is Sorensen Unfiltered or, as Sorensen sees it and those close to the head coach attest, 'just me, Brian'. The man who declared in front of 40,000 or so weepy-eyed Evertonians that 'it's big shoes to fill, but we already made Anfield our training pitch. So we're looking forward to it'. Everton Women have won their four matches at Anfield since 2019 by an aggregate score of 7-1, after all. Amid the bittersweet blue pyro of Goodison's farewell, Sorensen wore a mischievous grin. He winked. The crowd cheered. Three weeks later, in a small office at the top of the Liver Building in which Everton have their headquarters, vestiges of that mischief dance across Sorensen's face when this moment is recalled. 'I don't think about whether I can say something, if I'm successful enough to say it. I just enjoy the ride,' says Sorensen. So, he's enjoying it? A flash of a grin. 'The first question I used to get in an interview with an agent and a potential player is: 'Are the men('s team) still going to be supporting you?'. Now, I don't get those questions. Because action speaks louder than words.' Sorensen reclines in an office chair, fresh off the final day of his League Managers Association management diploma. Sporting a retro cream Everton hoodie and bright blue and yellow Nikes, he oozes dangerous levels of zen. 'My last assignment was due on Thursday, I was doing it Wednesday night,' he says. This is not so much procrastination as an example of Sorensen's innate calm, born out of his upbringing in Arden, Denmark. The small railway town was home to his very large family. From the time he was born until Sorensen was 15, days were spent on his grandmother's farm, alongside a rotating compilation of his father's seven siblings and Sorensen's 36 cousins. 'We didn't buy anything from the store,' says Sorensen, who is an adept carpenter like his father and builds climbing frames for his six-year-old daughter, Rose, in their back yard in the south of Liverpool. 'We did everything, built everything, grew everything, we had all types of animals. So you couldn't take things too seriously or dwell too much because we need to put food on the table. Advertisement 'My wife (Camilla) sometimes kills me because things that don't affect me or I can't affect, I'm like, 'Why stress about them? It'll all work out, you know?'. 'I really, really hate micromanagement,' he adds. Autonomy, instead, is his currency, a lesson gleaned from his grandmother. 'She's my role model. How she could control 20 kids at one time, on a farm, I have no idea. You give people the tools but trust them to use them right.' Since April 2022, when Sorensen joined Everton from Denmark's Fortuna Hjorring, the past three seasons have turned on savvy survival. Annual squad budgets ranged between £3million and £4m ($4m and $5.4m) due to the club's wider financial plight. Injury crises across Sorensen's first two seasons exacerbated an already gossamer-thin squad. Everton's budget for the start of 2024-25 ranked the lowest in the Women's Super League (WSL), with all seven summer recruits arriving on free transfers. That Everton kept well away from any potential relegation wreckage in all three seasons under Sorensen (they've finished sixth, eighth and eighth) is a testament to the Dane's capacity to build from very little. 'All the players we've recruited have done super well for us, they're good people,' he says, 'but I had to play people out of position because I had to take the good players who were available, waiting for clubs to announce their released lists. That's where we've struggled all these years. I had no budget.' This summer, things are different. The WSL summer transfer window does not officially open until June 18 but six new signings have already committed to Everton, with a possible two more to follow. As we speak, an international player, whom Sorensen says he had been attempting to recruit since last October, waits in a room across the hall, ready to put pen to paper. Advertisement This has been the speed of operation since the Friedkin Group's (TFG) takeover in January. That same month, Everton completed the permanent signings of midfielder Hayley Ladd and striker Kelly Gago from Manchester United and Nantes, along with three loan moves. For the first time in nearly 12 months, Sorensen had a full bench. In April, Sorensen and his assistant manager, Stephen Neligan, signed new contracts, followed by new deals for defenders Kenzie Weir and Clare Wheeler. The following month, Everton confirmed the women's team's historic move to Goodison Park, leaving behind Walton Hall Park, along with the appointment of Hannah Forshaw as chief executive of Everton Women. 🏟️ More memories to be made at our new home, Goodison Park. — Everton Women (@EvertonWomen) May 31, 2025 'Active' is how Sorensen describes the period. Which feels something of an understatement. 'For the first time since I've been here, I got all of my targets,' he adds. 'That's never happened before because we're not in the top of the ranking order.' Sorensen assembles his hands to form a food chain. 'There's Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United, then the powerhouses in Spain, France and Germany, then some Italian teams because they pay more.' He drops his hand lower. 'Then there's us.' Under TFG, the ambition is to reposition Everton into the top echelon, as well as be a landing spot for England internationals. No English club was represented in Sarina Wiegman's England Euro 2025 squad outside the top four (although Arsenal forward Michelle Agyemang was included after a season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion). Only six Everton players from last season regularly started for their international teams. Sorensen has faith the shift will occur sooner rather than later. He tells the story of TFG's first meeting at Finch Farm in January in front of the club's entire staff and playing teams. 'The first thing they said was they want to support the women's team,' Sorensen says. 'Then they began speaking about the men's team, the academy, so on. That was the first sign of, 'OK, they actually want to support us, they're taking it seriously'.' Advertisement The move to Goodison has been a catalyst — for recruitment but also commercial opportunities. 'Thousands of people (at Goodison on May 18) had probably never watched Everton Women,' Sorensen says. Now? Gates of 10,000 is the ambition, roughly five times the average attendance (2,000) Everton clocked during the 2023-24 season, the second lowest in the WSL. The limitations of Walton Hall Park — 2,200 capacity (half that under a roof) and council ownership meant little could be done to enhance the matchday experience — take some blame. Another avenue for revenue generation is selling shares in Everton Women to investors, similar to Alexis Ohanian's minority stake in Chelsea Women. 'I look at Angel City or Kansas City (in NWSL), the valuation they built from scratch,' Sorensen says. 'We have the best league in the world. If people can understand and see the growth, if they have the American mindset that this is something you should invest in now rather than later, then I don't see why it's not possible to do that in this country.' Or at Everton. 'We have something here,' Sorensen says, reeling off a list: the country's 'best stadium'. A clear playing style. Last season's fifth-best defence in the WSL, despite having a rotating cast that included six different centre-back partnerships, five right-backs and three left-backs. Sorensen also knows the value of the collective. His family lived within 15 miles of each other, all skilled tradespeople: plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers. 'The whole family would go over to one sibling's house, do it up in two months, then go to the next one,' he says. Sorensen's recruitment doctrine has roots here, valuing people and teamwork skills above all else, sounding out the opinions of players over those of agents for character references. With most recruitment work finished, Sorensen's summer plans are relaxed. In late May, he travelled back to Denmark with Camilla, their six-week-old son, Milas, and Rose, the latter spending her days on the tractor with her grandad, navigating the fields Sorensen grew up on. Advertisement Now back in Liverpool, there's a new garden to build, a workout gym for himself and his wife. 'I need to get fit,' he quips. He's already constructed an outdoor gymnastics setup for his daughter, fit with climbing walls, monkey bars, a rubber floor and a television so she can stream practice videos. 'She walks more on her hands than her legs nowadays.'
ITV News
19-05-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Goodison Park to become new home of Everton's WSL team
Plans to demolish Everton's stadium Goodison Park have been scrapped and will now become the new home of Everton FC 's Women's team, the club have announced. The men's team are preparing to bid an emotional farewell to the iconic ground ahead of their move to the newly-built multi-million pound stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. But Goodison Park will instead host Women's Super League matches, with the women's side moving from their nearby current home in Walton Hall Park. With a capacity of 40,000, Goodison Park will now be the largest dedicated women's football stadium in the country. Everton captain Megan Finnigan said: 'This move is a testament to where the women's game is right now and, more importantly, where it is heading. 'Goodison is a magical stadium with a deep heritage and close ties to the local community. 'Leading the team out for that first home match of next season will be nothing short of a career highlight – and the prospect of what Everton Women can become with such an iconic ground to call our home is hugely exciting.' The decision follows a review of the Goodison Legacy project, which was launched in 2020, by the Friedkin Group following its takeover of the club in December. Goodison Park will also stage some academy matches, while there will be a programme of stadium upgrades ahead of the new season. Chief executive Angus Kinnear said: 'We know how treasured Goodison is, not only to every Evertonian but to the game itself, and being able to keep such an iconic stadium at the heart of the legacy project is something that has been incredibly important to us. 'The women's game has grown significantly in recent years and we believe that growth will continue and accelerate. 'We're under no illusions, there are obstacles we need to overcome to make this a success both practically and economically, but we're confident that we will overcome those challenges.'
