We recently saw the 3rd installment of the World Sevens Football series in Brentford and it is safe to say that the tournament was a hit bring a different side of the Women's game to England. The 3rd installment brought the World Seven's to England for the first time with WSL teams previously heading out to Portugal to attend the tournament against teams from various different leagues, this time though with the tournament on home soil the focus was on the 2025/26 WSL teams where 8 of them stepped up for the 3 day fast paced action. Originally the thought of seeing these teams face each other again after watching a season of match ups didn't appeal however, after one game it was clear that this was going to be totally different.
With these games being 7 a side on a much smaller pitch the game was a much faster pace to normal with players not having as much space and as much time on the ball as usually. Games were also just 30 minutes each with 15 minutes being played each half, so a lot needed to happen in a short period and they definitely made the minutes count with some very high scoring games. What was also interesting was to see how players coped with the smaller goals, again a noticeable difference from the usual league games but the players seemed to cope well with all the changes. There were also rolling subs in the tournament which again was great to watch. All the substitutes would be lined up at the side of the pitch holding bibs to swap in and out easily, sometimes just one or two would run off however, sometimes it was a whole outfield change... it was a bit like watching the ice hockey with this element but it had you keeping your eyes on the pitch at all times to see who was on or off. At the end of the game if it was a draw the teams dropped to 5 a side until a winner was determined, making it harder for teams as a bit more space was created but again it was still very fun to watch.
It was great to see how players adapted to the smaller sided games however, it was outside of the games that seemed to capture the audiences. The whole tournament had a great atmosphere in the stands, a DJ was playing throughout and even in breaks of play you saw the players having a little dance a long, just a bit of fun after a long season. The atmosphere never dropped and only seemed to get better and better as the competition progressed. The real highlight of the tournament though was the walkouts from teams before the games. This really got everyone involved and there really should have been added points for the best walkouts, each team got creative and as the competition progressed you could see players getting more comfortable with the antics. We had Sonia Bompastor being held in the air by the Chelsea team, Marc Skinner being Bad Bunny with the team and staff dancing alongside him & then you had plenty of acrobatics. Possibly the best walkout though was Everton's funeral with Hannah Blundell in a coffin (a suitcase) pop out in a Man Utd shirt before switching to an Everton shirt who she was actually representing in the Seven's, what made this great was this happened as they played against Man Utd who all laughed along with the walkout. It was great to see whole teams coming together having fun, even the referees got involved which was brilliant to see a different side to them on the pitch.
The best way to describe the Seven's is that is was a bit like on of those preseason tournaments you take part in as a kid, where you spend all day on and off the pitch having a laugh with your teammates, it was a breathe of fresh air really to see the fun side of the game come back for a few days and see those players really enjoying themselves. The tournament seems to have reached a new audience too granted a few people were a bit outspoken about it making a mockery of the game and why women shouldn't be treated the same however, a lot of people saw the intent of the tournament for what it was and really got on board with it. People who normally have nothing to do with the women's game were actually sharing content like the walkouts saying how fun it looked. I feel like whilst Chelsea may have been the overall competition winner it was the format that was the overall winner bringing in a good audience thanks to social media and Sky's coverage.
Going forward it really would be great if we could get this tournament over in England more often, maybe yearly but have it in different places each year to get more of the country involved. That been said the countdown is already on for the next installment.
