Above: Bayern Munich v Ajax. Photo: Women’s World Sevens Website.
The inaugural World Sevens competition kicked off this week in Portugal. Impetus’ Catherine MacKenzie and Clare McEwen break down the action from the first day of the tournament.
What is the World 7s competition?
The “World 7s” tournament is a new international seven-a-side women’s football competition. It is being held from May 21 to May 23, 2025, at Estádio António Coimbra da Mota in Estoril, Portugal.
It is normally high scoring, played on a smaller field, with two halves of fifteen minutes and rolling substitutions. The Estoril event marks the beginning of a new international series, with a North American leg planned for later in 2025.
The teams that are involved in Portugal are: Manchester United, Manchester City, Ajax, Benfica, Roma, Paris Saint-Germain, Rosengård, and Bayern Munich. Some teams have taken their full squads, whilst others have left some players at home – particularly those returning from injury (such as Manchester City’s Lauren Hemp and Alex Greenwood).
All games are broadcast free on DAZN.
Day one – the results
Manchester City 4 – 0 Rosengard
Ajax 2 – 4 Bayern Munich
Roma 2 – 3 Manchester United
PSG 2 – 1 Benfica
Manchester City – Rosengard
Score: 4-0
Goal scorers:
Manchester City: Fujino 2′, Kerolin 5′, 16, Oyama 25′
Takeaways from the game:
City adapted to the format straight away and stretched the pitch using the lack of offsides to make space. Rosengard failed to adapt and were punished again and again. Kerolin was unplayable with her quick feet and cool finishing. She obviously really enjoys the format. City will be hard to beat if they keep that up. It’d adapt to survive in this fast-paced format.
Ajax – Bayern Munich
Score: 2 – 4
Goal scorers:
Ajax: Keukelaar 3′, Yohannes 24′
Bayern: Own goal Van Eijk 6′, Viggosdottir 11′, Hansen 17′, Dallmann 20′
Takeaways from the game:
Ajax were the stronger team in the opening minutes, buoyed by an early goal. Yohannes in midfield looked particularly bright going forward – getting into dangerous spaces and using the smaller pitch to her advantage working in tight spaces. For Ajax, the young American was definitely the most aggressive player.
Ajax had more significant issues defensively. There seemed to be a measure of confusion around the back (perhaps natural due to the unknown format and inexperience on the size of pitch), and individual errors were costly. Once Bayern were level, they dominated most of the possession and capitalised on defensive errors from their opponent. They also made more use of the lack of offside rules.
Roma – Manchester United
Score: 2 – 3
Goal scorers:
Manchester United: Bizet 12′, Toone 14′, Clinton 20′
Roma: Giugliano 14′, 18′
Takeaways from the game:
A much more tactical game with more player-to-player marking and less obvious space. Neither team was making much use of stretching the pitch with an offside player like City did in their game. Players were still on the shoulder of the last defender throughout much of the match and will need to adapt as the tournament goes on. Some great technical play, though and Giugliano was terrifying on the break. I think both sides will have learned from that tight opener.
PSG – Benfica
Score: 2-1
Goal scorers:
PSG: Benera 8′, Dorsin 22′
Benfica: Martins 8′
Takeaways from the game:
The teams will have had the benefit of watching the previous games and this showed in the tactical display. The teams were more evenly matched, both sides had chances and both opted for much more direct play than we saw earlier in the day, when teams like Manchester United tried at times to play out from the back.
Takeaways from the day
The first day of a new competition with a very different setup – a smaller pitch, seven players, rolling substitutions, no offside rule, and so on. Some teams adapted much more quickly than others; teams like Manchester City adapted fairly quickly, whilst teams like Bayern (to an extent) and Manchester United took a bit longer. Tomorrow’s matches will be more interesting as all teams will have a game under their belt in this new format and will play twice – once early afternoon and later in the evening.
Tomorrow’s fixtures include Man City v Ajax, Roma v PSG and Man United v PSG – all live on DAZN.
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