WSL: What to expect for new era of women's football amid '£1bn-industry' claims

Women’s football is set for a seismic shake-up in just six months as NewCo begins its takeover of the top two divisions with aims to set aside “judgement and direct comparison to the men’s game”.

For the last 14 years, the professionalisation and growth of the Women’s Super League – and from 2014, the Women’s Championship – has fallen under the jurisdiction of the Football Association (FA). But at the end of the current domestic season, the newly established 'NewCo', owned by the 24 clubs in the WSL and Championship, will take charge of the top two tiers on a standalone basis.

The decision is a viewed as an essential development for the women's game at a time when revenues, attendance and TV coverage are also increasing rapidly. NewCo's powers will include the ability to make changes to the structure of the league, agree new broadcast deals, invest in new technology and officiate and implement rule changes.

How swiftly changes are implemented has been a major talking point as the deadline approaches. But NewCo chief executive and former Nike director Nikki Doucet emphasised that myriad issues and questions still require attention in order to achieve the ambitions set out by the body's proposals, which has been coined 'Project Moonshoot'.

The structure of the new board is still to be decided, alongside the potential addition of video assistant referees (VAR), 'VAR Lite', and full-time referees. Speaking to media on Thursday, Doucet said that the body is still “working through legal documentation”, thus many changes before next season are unlikely.

"We have what we believe the structure is, and then it just takes time," said Doucet. "Basically we have put forward a proposal, which I call 'Project Moonshot'. When I worked at