WOMEN’S FIFA WORLD CUP WATCH

We’re just six weeks out from the start of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia.

Every Thursday in the leadup to the tournament, Stuff will be bringing you the latest news, results and scuttlebutt from the world of women’s football.

Free the Lionesses

Soon, team preparations will be hitting high gear. But for England, there’s still some debate over when the squad will actually assemble.

A club v country row is threatening the Lionesses’ preparation for the tournament, with their clubs yet to reach an agreement over the player release date for international duty.

The row has been rumbling on since April, when the European Club Association raised concerns over national teams’ plans to call up players before the official Fifa-sanctioned release date of July 10. The teams, however, have argued that assembling 10 days before the World Cup kicks off is ridiculously inadequate.

An agreement was reached on a non-mandatory suggested release window of June 23-29, to try to strike a balance between the demands of national teams and clubs. But England manager Sarina Wiegman wants to bring her squad together on June 19, but officials are yet to strike any formal agreement with the clubs – putting the players in a difficult position.

Stand-off over broadcast rights continues

Sports ministers of five European countries have been forced to wade into the dispute between broadcasters and Fifa. Again, we are just six weeks out from the World Cup, and broadcast rights are yet to be awarded in several major European markets.

Ministers in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy have issued a joint statement in which they urged Fifa and broadcasters to quickly reach an agreement on the unsold television rights. The group ‘‘acknowledged with concern’’ that an agreement was not in place, but said they are confident Fifa and broadcasters will ‘‘find a common path’’ (which is ministerial speak for ‘‘would you guys just sort this out?’’).

The move follows a threat of a European TV blackout by Fifa boss Gianni Infantino, who described the ‘‘disappointing’’ broadcast rights offers as a ‘‘slap in the face’’ of the players and all women worldwide.

He said European broadcasters had offered Fifa in the range of $1.6-$16 million for the rights, compared with up to $350m for the men’s World Cup. Rights offers for previous tournaments were bundled together with other events, including the men’s World Cup, but Fifa has now separated the bidding process.

Former French captain returns to squad

Speaking of stand-offs, one of the great stand-offs in international football has come to an end.

Former captain Amandine Henry has been included in France’s provisional 26-player squad for the World Cup following a lengthy absence from the international setup.

The 33 year-old midfielder has not played for France since December 2020, making herself unavailable for international duty following a falling out with former coach Corinne Diacre.

Diacre was spectacularly sacked in March this year after several more key players, including new captain Wendie Renard, said they would no longer represent their country due to the ‘‘irreversible dysfunction’’ in the team under Diacre’s tenure.

Diacre, also a former French captain, was replaced by Herve Renard (no relation to Wendie).