• Second tier confirms one-team shortfall for next season
• Financial woes force Reading to apply to play in fifth tier

The Women’s Championship will operate with 11 teams rather than 12 next season after the Football Association confirmed Reading’s withdrawal from the second tier.

The club said on Sunday that, as reported exclusively by the ­Guardian on Friday, they have applied for a spot in the fifth tier of the English women’s pyramid. It follows months of financial uncertainty and the collapse of an 11th-hour takeover bid that had attempted to save the women’s team over the past week. Staff, players and fans are said to be devastated by the news.

• Dutch coach joins from Leverkusen on three-year deal
• He won league and cup double with FC Twente in 2022

Aston Villa have appointed the Dutch coach Robert de Pauw as their manager on a three-year contract, with the option of a further year.

The 42-year-old has made the switch from Bayer Leverkusen, where he was in charge for two seasons, and his arrival ends the Women’s Super League side’s lengthy search to find a replacement for Carla Ward. She announced on 3 May that she was leaving to spend more time with her loved ones, after three years at the helm.

• Late takeover bid for women’s team falls through
• Fifth tier is best case but whole set-up could be closed

Reading have requested to withdraw from the Women’s Championship, after an 11th-hour bid to take over the women’s arm of the club fell through, and the entire women’s and girls’ programme could soon be closed down.

Multiple age-group teams were told on Friday they would not be continuing and staff are understood to have been informed in a series of meetings that there were no guarantees of funding for any women’s and girls’ teams for next season.

US businesswoman Michele Kang has ambitious plans for Women’s Championship side, starting with Sweden’s captain and PSG’s manager

As US businesswoman Michele Kang began speaking in the lavishly decorated Empire room at Mayfair’s Landmark hotel and outlined her vision for the Women’s Championship side London City Lionesses to become the “best team in England”, the scene created an immediate juxtaposition to last season’s typical images of the team that finished eighth in the women’s second tier playing their home games at a sparsely populated Princes Park stadium in Dartford.

Before Kang – who also owns Washington Spirit and Lyon – was even halfway through her opening remarks, Princes Park had already been waved goodbye to. The relatively small, somewhat unknown, independent women’s team she bought in December are to move. Not quite to Mayfair, but to Bromley, where her team will ground-share with the men’s League Two club from the new season.

• England midfielder’s contract expires on Sunday
• United close to signing Elisabeth Terland from Brighton

Manchester United have confirmed their captain, Katie Zelem, will leave on Sunday when her contract expires. The England midfielder and lifelong United fan has been with the club since they reformed a senior women’s team in 2018 and has been a mainstay of the starting side in the subsequent years.

United made the announcement in a message that said: “Today we bid farewell to a legend.” The England goalkeeper Mary Earps, who has turned down an offer of a new contract and is believed to be strongly considering an offer from Paris Saint-Germain, is also poised to leave United.

• Talks held over possible deal, according to sources
• Bronze will be coveted by clubs across the world

Chelsea have emerged as strong contenders to sign Lucy Bronze, after Barcelona announced the England right-back would leave when her contract expires on Sunday.

Bronze is certain to be coveted by clubs all over the world but, according to sources, discussions have been held with regards to a possible switch to Chelsea. If the English club pull off the deal, it would be one of the highest-profile transfers of the summer. The Women’s Super League champions did not wish to comment when approached by the Guardian.