WHEN competitive football finally gets underway again, the Glasgow City and Arsenal players who are in the Scotland squad are likely to face a glut of fixtures at home and abroad.

As divulged last week, Uefa have asked the Scottish FA and all national associations involved in Euro 2021 qualifying to reschedule their remaining group games for September, October and late November. That means six Scotland matches.

City and Arsenal also have their 2019-20 Champions League quarter-finals, originally due to have been played on March 26 and April 1, to re-arrange. And, as club manager Laura Montgomery explained, that’s not the end of it for the Scottish champions.

So, where do matters stand?

“We’re not really any further forward,” the City co-founder admitted. “All the clubs went on a video call to try to get a grasp of when the various leagues would restart. I truthfully don’t know what Uefa are going to do. Clubs have different viewpoints.”

In addition to City and Arsenal, there are two clubs from France (holders Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain), Spain (Barcelona, Atletico Madrid) and Germany (Bayern Munich, Wolfsburg). In Spain the league was called on Friday, with Barcelona declared the winners ahead of Atletico.

While there is little prospect of a re-start in the UK before August, City’s opponents Wolfsburg are, like Bayern, ahead of the curve.

“Germany have potentially got dates where they see themselves back playing,” Montgomery confirmed.

“They’re training and, while they didn’t have information on a restart, if the Bundesliga games are returning you’d expect the women’s ones might as well. Other clubs were saying they might be back playing in July.

“They might be, but we certainly won’t. We’ll obviously all do what Uefa decide in the end, but it’s going to be a challenge to make anything work for us all.

“There was a suggestion that we all go to one place and play the tournament. There’s no clear agreement between the clubs on that and on other matters, and it’s because everyone is in a completely different position.”

All this isn’t even taking into consideration the revamped 2020-21 tournament with its extra games.

“We’re the only team in the quarter-finals who are in the weird and wonderful position of having a qualifying round to take part in next season,” Montgomery said. “We could have a ridiculous situation of still playing in the current competition, while at the same time facing the qualifying round for the next one.

“Then there is also potential fixture congestion. There are some leagues which might try and go to a completion of the 2019-20 season. If they are trying to cram all their games into August that’s challenging for Arsenal. They’re probably in a bit of a predicament because if their season is called they’re not going to qualify for the next Champions League.

“In these circumstances their only way of getting into the next one would be to win this one.”

The £70,000 which all eight clubs are due has not yet been paid.

“It’s vitally important for us because it’s part of our budgeting this season,” Montgomery pointed out.

GIVEN the demands on all the Glasgow City players, never mind Scotland squad regulars like goalkeeper Lee Alexander and midfielders Hayley Lauder and Leanne Crichton, it is getting harder and harder to envisage the 2020 Scottish Building Society SWPL season being played. The best scenario was for clubs to return to training in July, with the top two leagues resuming – probably in a truncated form – four weeks later. Yet even if the Scottish Government gave that the green light, could City fulfil all their fixtures?

Increasingly the mood music is for the top two leagues to revert to a permanent winter season. The switch, which is being driven by Celtic, is said to be attracting increasing support among clubs.

ONE huge tranche of money Uefa did release early is HatTrick funding. And they have done so without the usual conditions attached.

All 55 national associations will share £206m to cover the rest of this season and the next one. And because of the pandemic, they can distribute the windfall as they see fit.

In the previous four-year cycle nearly £90,000 per annum was ring-fenced for women’s football in Scotland, and this was due to rise to just over £130,000 in the new four-year phase.

The SFA failed to respond to a question asking if the money will continue to be ring-fenced.