The BBC has moved to reassure fans that it remains committed to women's football, despite scrapping its long-running weekly highlights programme ahead of the new Women's Super League campaign.
The Women's Football Show, which had been a fixture on BBC One at 11.30pm on Sundays following an earlier release on iPlayer, will not return this season. In its place, the broadcaster plans to lean more heavily on digital platforms, including its recently launched YouTube channel dedicated to women's football, to deliver match highlights to viewers.
According to reports, the BBC is also developing a new chat show about women's football for YouTube, to be fronted by Alex Scott. Sources suggest the programme could take inspiration from the format of Gary Neville's popular show The Overlap, with plans to feature a rotating panel of current and former England internationals. The BBC has not commented directly on these plans.
This pivot away from traditional television scheduling mirrors an approach the corporation already tested during this summer's men's World Cup, when it largely abandoned nightly highlights broadcasts in favor of online packages that reportedly attracted large digital audiences.
Defending the decision, a BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster remains "fully committed to women's football and the WSL," adding that "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 also confirmed that the BBC will broadcast 25 live WSL fixtures this season in addition to Women's Champions League coverage, calling this a commitment to keeping the women's game accessible on free-to-air television.
The change comes amid a broader reshuffling of the BBC's women's football output. The corporation lost broadcast rights to the Women's FA Cup last year, with Channel 4 and TNT Sports now holding those rights until 2028. Earlier this year, the BBC also ended Football Focus, another magazine-format show that had often featured women's football and was also presented by Scott.
Despite the BBC's public stance, the decision to cancel the Women's Football Show has reportedly unsettled some within BBC Sport itself. Several individuals who worked on the programme last season — which was produced externally by Aurora Media rather than in-house — say they only learned of its cancellation through media reports over the summer, rather than through internal communication.
Still, WSL Football is said to be satisfied with assurances from the BBC regarding enhanced coverage across its various platforms moving forward. The new WSL season kicks off with high-spending newcomers London City Lionesses hosting Manchester United.
Funding arrangements for the now-defunct show reportedly saw WSL Football — and previously the Football Association, before the league's oversight changed in 2024 — cover production costs, while the BBC funded presenters and pundits.
Reports indicate that BBC director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski was behind the decision to end the programme, though other voices within the corporation have pushed back on that characterization, insisting that such major scheduling decisions are made through broader internal consultation rather than by a single executive. Kay-Jelski, previously editor-in-chief at the Athletic, took over BBC Sport's top role in April 2024, succeeding Barbara Slater.
As the WSL enters the second season of its five-year broadcast partnership with the BBC and Sky Sports — a deal running through 2030 that ensures every match is televised — questions remain about how effectively digital-first strategies will serve the growing audience for women's football in England.
Based on reporting from The Guardian.