The BBC has axed The Women’s Football Show, its premier BBC One highlights programme for the Women’s Super League, just days before the new campaign kicks off on Friday.
The corporation maintains it remains wholly dedicated to covering the women’s game, yet the decision to discontinue the weekly broadcast — which previously aired on Sunday evenings at 11.30pm following an earlier release on BBC iPlayer — marks a notable retreat from traditional television coverage.
The programme, often described as the women’s equivalent of Match of the Day, featured a studio format with a presenter and pundits analysing the weekend’s action.
Its removal comes despite the BBC entering the second year of a five-year domestic broadcast rights arrangement with Sky Sports, running through to 2030.
A new YouTube chat show fronted by Alex Scott is set to be launched
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Rather than maintaining a conventional television highlights programme, the BBC intends to pivot towards its recently established YouTube women’s football channel as the primary destination for match footage.
The broadcaster is also understood to be developing a new YouTube chat show fronted by Alex Scott, the former England and Arsenal defender.
According to multiple reports, the programme will adopt a podcast-style format akin to Gary Neville’s hugely popular Overlap show on Sky Sports.
Current and former England internationals are expected to feature as regular panellists on the new offering.
The digital-first approach mirrors the strategy the corporation employed during this summer’s men’s World Cup, when it eschewed nightly highlights broadcasts in favour of individual match packages published online and on iPlayer, attracting millions of viewers.
BBC Sport will ditch The Women’s Football Show
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A BBC spokesperson defended the move, telling the Guardian: “BBC Sport remains fully committed to women’s football and the WSL. As we build towards the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup, audiences will be able to watch highlights from every WSL match across BBC platforms, including iPlayer, YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app.”
The spokesperson added: “In addition, BBC Sport will broadcast 25 live WSL matches, alongside live Uefa Women’s Champions League coverage, ensuring fans can follow the biggest stories and moments from the women’s game on free-to-air platforms.”
Internal sources at the corporation were emphatic on Tuesday that this represented an evolution in delivery rather than a reduction in commitment or investment, arguing the shift simply reflects how audiences now consume content.
The cancellation forms part of a sweeping retrenchment across BBC Sport’s output. Earlier this year, the corporation pulled the plug on Football Focus after more than five decades on air, replacing the beloved Saturday lunchtime magazine show — which Scott had also presented — with The Football Interview, hosted by Kelly Somers.
Ski Sunday, another programme with a half-century pedigree, has likewise been removed from the schedules.
The BBC also surrendered its broadcast rights for the Women’s FA Cup last year, with Channel 4 and TNT Sports securing the competition through to 2028.
Ski Sunday, another programme with a half-century pedigree, has likewise been removed from the schedules
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GETTY
These cuts sit within a broader programme of austerity overseen by new director general Matt Brittin, who has outlined plans to slash £80 million from programming budgets spanning television, radio and news output.
The decision has nonetheless left several BBC Sport insiders disheartened, with multiple sources indicating it came as a genuine shock. Staff who had worked on the programme last season — produced not in-house but by independent company Aurora Media — reportedly discovered it had been scrapped only when the Cutback reported the news in August.
Multiple sources have attributed the strategic call to BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski, though others within the corporation insist such decisions are reached collaboratively rather than by any single individual.
The programme had been jointly funded by the BBC and the league, with WSL Football covering production costs and the BBC paying for on-screen talent.
WSL Football is understood to be satisfied with the BBC’s assurances of enhanced digital coverage. The new season commences on Friday evening when big-spending London City Lionesses welcome Manchester United.
