Arnold Clark Cup: How the tournament gained cult status after just one edition | OneFootball

With the Women’s World Cup just five months away, England boss Sarina Wiegman will be starting to fine tune the squad which will be heading out to Australia and New Zealand.

She has the perfect opportunity to tinker with her team at the Arnold Clark Cup, which gets underway in Milton Keynes tomorrow. Coventry and Bristol will also host matches later in the coming days.

South Korea, Italy and Belgium will be joining England for the invitational football tournament, which has already gained cult status among fans of the women’s game.

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Last year’s inaugural event captured the imagination of women’s football supporters, who were treated to spectacular goals, unexpected tactical decisions, and, of course, Millie Bright and Alexia Putellas finishing the tournament as the joint-top goalscorers.

GiveMeSport Women takes a light-hearted look at why everyone loves the Arnold Clark Cup.

What is the Arnold Clark Cup?

For five years, the Lionesses started the year by playing in the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational tournament hosted by the United States which is still ongoing.

The first few editions of the event always featured England, the US, France and Germany, while later iterations included Japan and Brazil. The She Believes Cup was certainly an excellent way for the Lionesses to be tested against high-calibre opposition.

In 2021, it was announced England would not compete in the She Believes Cup due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the team did not return to the fold in 2022.

Instead, the FA and marketing agency Pitch International announced the creation of the Arnold Clark Cup, England’s very own four-team friendly tournament.

The jokes immediately started. England went from competing in the SheBelieves Cup, a tournament with an inspirational – if not a slightly over-sentimental – name, to contesting an event named after one of the largest car dealer groups in Europe. It was all very British.

Regardless, the Arnold Clark Cup was going to be a serious business. Germany, Spain and Olympic champions Canada signed up to last year’s tournament, with the Lionesses needing to be at their very best to even secure one victory.

Fortunately, that turned out to be the case. England fans got a glimpse of Wiegman’s managerial brilliance as she showed how proactive and flexible she could be when necessary.

The Lionesses subsequently drew with Canada and Spain, before a 3-1 victory over Germany gave them the overall title.

Why does the Arnold Clark Cup have cult status?

A number of iconic moments emerged from the tournament, such as Jill Scott, now retired, completely holding her own against Putellas, considered the best women’s football player in the world.

Centre-back Millie Bright ended up sharing the Arnold Clark Cup Golden Boot with Putellas after she became a makeshift striker against Germany, scoring a crucial goal for her side as she did so.

It was all so brilliantly silly, and the women’s football community sprang into action, sharing funny posts and memes about the tournament on social media.

This was facilitated by the Arnold Clark Cup’s interactive and engaging Twitter account, which often played along with the quirky jokes.

One running gag was that Arnold Clark had become some sort of guardian angel for the Lionesses, and it was under his spiritual guidance that England went on to win Euro 2022.

Fan accounts started writing prayers to Arnold Clark whenever the Lionesses had a big match, with the below posted before England’s friendly against the United States in October.

“Our Arnold Clark, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy USWNT friendly come, thy will be done; on the carpet under Wembley's arch as it is in heaven.

“Give us this day our daily Hemp take-ons: And forgive us our silliness of playing Daly at LB instead of as a striker”.

It was official – the Arnold Clark Cup had received legendary status after just one tournament.

Cat Watson, director of women’s sport at Pitch International, commented on the social media reaction in an interview with AllForXI.

“We love it!” she said. “What is really special about the women’s football community is that they have a good sense of humour and they’re really engaged.

“We’re really lucky to have that engaged fan base in women’s football and have it translate over to the Arnold Clark Cup, even if fans on the other side of the pond had no idea who Arnold Clark was!”

While the social media jokes are an added bonus, it genuinely is brilliant to see so many people engaged in a women’s football tournament. Last year’s Arnold Clark Cup will be hard to beat, but fans will be hoping for some more eye-catching moments during this year’s event.

Long live the Arnold Clark Cup!