The 43-year-old former Manchester United and Everton defender was appointed in January 2018 on a contract until the summer of 2021.
He led the Lionesses to a first SheBelieves Cup success and a fourth-place finish at the World Cup in 2019.
But since last year’s quarter-final win over Norway, they have lost seven of 11 games and failed to retain their SheBelieves Cup title in March.
Neville, a former England international, had been set to lead Team GB into this summer’s Olympic Games, before taking control of the Lionesses at the Women’s Euros on home soil in 2021. But that tournament is moving to July 2022.
Despite recent results, Neville has retained the support of the Football Association. The decision about his future has come about because of coronavirus and its impact on the women’s football calendar.
Ideally, the FA wants the continuity of the same person taking both the GB side through the Tokyo Olympics and England to the Euros and the 2023 World Cup.
The postponements of the Olympics and Euros give the FA time to appoint a new manager and refresh the playing squad before that run of major tournaments.
After the SheBelieves Cup, at which England lost to World Cup winners the United States and also Spain, Neville said he would walk away if he felt he was not “motivated enough” to continue.
He also said: “I think we need to take a step back now and start building the foundations again – getting back to the brilliant basics.” Neville held a number of coaching roles in the men’s game before his first managerial appointment to the England job.
He is understood to have enjoyed his time in women’s football and could look to remain in the game. The Manchester City job is vacant following the departure of Nick Cushing to New York City.
Phil Neville England women’s boss to leave role next summer
Kenya facing World Cup expulsion
Kenya look likely to be expelled from the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers before a game is played, having told the BBC they do not have the funds to meet a payment deadline – the result of which will be their immediate exclusion from the competition.
Kenya’s football federation, the FKF, have said they are unable to pay former coach Adel Amrouche a million dollars by Friday 24 April, as they were ordered to by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last October.
They have been told by Fifa, world football’s governing body, that if they do not make this payment, the result will be exclusion from the World Cup qualifying campaign unless Amrouche agrees to an extension of the deadline.
But Amrouche has already told the BBC that he will not agree to any extension.
“It is not the end of the world to be out of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers,” FKF President Nick Mwendwa said.
“We don’t have money and with the Covid-19 situation we have players who are stuck right now who haven’t been paid salaries.
“It’s been deaf ears from government – which is understandable because there is a crisis.”
The issue stems from the ruling by the CAS that Amrouche was wrongfully dismissed back in 2014 when he was sacked 18 months into a five-year tenure, following a 1-0 aggregate loss to Lesotho in a 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Amrouche initiated legal action that culminated in the million dollar award last October, to be paid by Friday 24 April 2020.
But with that deadline approaching, the FKF asked Fifa for an extension – only to be told “they cannot do much unless the creditor (Adel Amrouche) accepts.”
Amrouche, however, told the BBC that he is not open to the idea of any extension.
“Agreement on extension would lead to the closure of the disciplinary proceedings without payment being guaranteed,” he said.
For his part, Mwendwa said the FKF are “telling our people there’s so much more football beyond the World Cup qualifiers that we can play.”
Kenya has never participated in the Fifa World Cup, but having featured at the 2019 Afcon there was optimism this this group of players they could make it out of Group E, in which they are placed with Mali, Uganda and Rwanda.
28-year-old captain, former Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama, would be the most high-profile of those to miss out.
Competing in a World Cup also comes with financial benefits – reaching the finals in Qatar alone comes with a $9.5million reward before a ball is kicked, money that the FKF could certainly benefit from with its finances currently in the red.
Berlin Marathon September date off and no word on rescheduling
The Berlin Marathon, along with London one of the sport’s six ‘majors’, will not go ahead as planned on 27 September after Germany extended a ban on large-scale gatherings until 24 October.
In a short statement organizers said the event “cannot take place” as scheduled, without specifying whether a postponement was possible. They would “co-ordinate further steps”, they said.
The Berlin race was scheduled to take place the weekend before the London Marathon’s rearranged date of 4 October. The London Marathon, originally due to take place this Sunday, was postponed amid the coronavirus outbreak.
A rearranged Berlin marathon would probably have to take place in mid-November at the earliest, given the New York marathon is to be staged on 1 November. The Berlin race, famous for its fast course, has been the scene of the past seven men’s marathon world records, most recently Eliud Kipchoge’s two hours one minute 39 seconds in 2018.
Last year, Kenenisa Bekele, who is due to go up against Kipchoge at London this year, won in 2:01:41 – the second fastest time in history. Germany has suffered fewer coronavirus deaths than the UK – 4,948 compared to 17,337 according to figures collated by John Hopkins University – and has already begun a partial lifting of its lockdown measures.
Coronavirus how it hit football finance in Africa
Just four months into 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has swept across the planet, obliterating sports events and forcing suspensions, postponements and outright cancellations.
A sporting calendar that promised so much – including the Olympics, Africa Women’s Cup of Nations, European Championships, African Athletics championship, the CHAN tournament – has instead become a series of blank weeks and months as event after event succumbed to postponements and cancellations.
The end of live sport around the world has meant that players, coaches, clubs and federations have seen money dry up. Across Africa this has presented many challenges. Here, we look at those affecting football in particular.
”Football is life – the moment football stops, it is like life has stopped too”, laments David Juma, captain of Kakamega Homeboyz in Kenya’s Premier League.
For all that football is Africa’s most popular sport, the passion does not easily translate to an attractive bank balance even in normal times in comparison to leagues across Europe and America.
According to the KPL – one of East Africa’s top football leagues – 50% of its footballers earn an average monthly salary of $200. This leaves most players dependent on match bonuses, travelling allowance and winning bonuses.
Without games to play, none of these can be secured. Added to this has been the exit of league sponsors SportPesa.
And other players in the KPL do not earn a monthly wage at all, and earn by having jobs with the company that owns the club. In the pandemic, most of those companies are themselves struggling.
“We were told we will take a 50% pay cut – our boss is also in business, and because of corona there is no business that is doing well,” Juma continues.
“As a businessman, he knew paying our full salaries was unsustainable – so this was instead of sending away people unpaid.”
