UEFA plans changes to reduce lopsided women’s qualifiers

By ROB HARRIS
AP Global Soccer Writer

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The opening four rounds of Women’s World Cup qualifying in Europe have shown UEFA’s head of women’s football Nadine Kessler why a format change is needed to cut down on one-sided results that have accentuated the gulf in financial resources and number of professional players in squads. England has scored 32 goals without reply. France has hit 29 goals and conceded twice. Denmark has netted 28 times while only allowing one goal. Kessler tells The Associated Press “we need to really take a look closely to have more evenly-matched matches but also to have some opportunities to still see where’s the bar and to compete against the very best.”