‘You have to laugh or you’d cry’: the fixture list challenges facing women’s football

Arsenal’s seven games in 20 days illustrates some of the issues around scheduling. Photograph: Leila Coker/WSL Football/Getty Images

Waiting for men’s broadcast picks, dodging local fun runs and even having to avoid clashing with nearby comedy gigs: welcome to the quagmire of trying to arrange the Women’s Super League and WSL 2 schedule.

The fixture list is often a bone of contention for supporters, and organisers face a painstaking task in trying to organise games in venues where other teams get first dibs.