FA Confirm That Women's Super League Will Start in England in 2011

The Football Association will announce tomorrow that the proposed Super League, which was controversially deferred from its original start date, will go ahead in the summer of 2011 with an eight-club structure and a long-term hope of professional status for its players.

The announcement will be greeted with relief in the women's game but it seems unlikely stop the worrying player drain to the American professional league. The Chelsea striker Lianne Sanderson and the Everton midfielder Fara Williams are wanted by Philadelphia and if both players move eight of England's squad at the recent Euro 2009 finals will be playing their club football across the Atlantic by next summer.

The FA's chief executive, Ian Watmore, said: "If the summer league takes off then we'll have to see how our best English players can become professional in this country. At the moment the cream are heading off to the States and we'd rather they were playing here, so we are keen to reverse the trend."

Reversing the trend may be quite a task. The Boston striker Kelly Smith, one of six England players who have enjoyed a successful first season in the WPSL, said: "I think that other players will leave the English game to play professionally in America. If a player has a chance to turn pro, they should grab it with both hands. It's the thing you love doing and you can make a job of it in America, whereas you can't in England. Who's to say in 10, 15 years that might change, but I don't see it happening within the next couple of years."

In the Premier League yesterday, Smith's former club Arsenal beat Birmingham 1-0. Chelsea won 7-0 at Watford, Everton beat Nottingham Forest 6-0 and the leaders, MillwallLionesses, won 2-0 against Doncaster.