Women’s World Sevens will be ‘carnage and fun’

Manchester United manager Marc Skinner says the inaugural Women’s World Sevens tournament will be “utter carnage and fun”.

United are one of eight teams taking part in the new seven-aside competition which takes place in Estoril, Portugal, from 21-23 May.

They are joined in the tournament – which has a prize money pool of $5m (£3.76m) – by Manchester City, Ajax, Benfica, Roma, Paris St-Germain, Rosengard and Bayern Munich.

Skinner said: “It’s tactically going to be crazy, which I think is what we want – we want carnage. It will make everyone laugh and it is entertaining.

“We listened to our players on this. If they didn’t want to go, we genuinely wouldn’t put our name in it.

“The ones that don’t want to – there’s three or four players who have pulled out for their own personal reasons – will still get any prize money if we win.”

Matches will have 15-minute halves, with extra time deciding tie-breakers, and an infinite number of substitutions are allowed throughout.

Skinner says United are in a pot with Benfica, Roma and PSG and the top two teams of that group will progress to the semi-finals.

Should they win the tournament, the prize money will be partly distributed among players in the squad, as well as being used by the club to recruit new signings.

It is significantly more than the 1.4m euros (£1.2m) this year’s Women’s Champions League winners could earn on 24 May.

“It’s a reason why we entered,” added Skinner. “For our team, where we don’t have Chelsea, Arsenal or Manchester City’s budget, it’s huge if we’re going to be successful.

Skinner says United have not received any backlash from national team coaches who are preparing squads for Euro 2025.

The World Sevens takes place six weeks before the start of the Euros, which begins on 2 July, but international players are likely to be involved.

Asked if she wanted to play, England defender Maya Le Tissier said: “If the gaffer picks me, I will. I would love to play in it! It’s just a bit of fun.”

Norway striker Elisabeth Terland told BBC Sport: “It all fitted in perfectly after the season and after the FA Cup final.

“As a group, we love spending time together. That’s the biggest reason as to why we wanted to do it. Having a few days near Lisbon, playing some football, will be cool.”

England manager Sarina Wiegman said in March it would “not be too bad” as it could help players remain sharp at the end of the season.

“Well if you see now in the calendar for this summer, there is a gap – a gap with no football where players can have a little bit of rest,” she added.

“At the same time, players need to keep going because you want to be at your best for the Euros. There is a gap of no competitive games for a month.