FINALLY, after an interminable break to accommodate the World Cup and the Under-19 Euros, SWPL football returns today – and the big question is whether the tournament in France will boost domestic attendances.

Far more people watched the under-21 games than would have been the case even two months earlier, with a worthy final between winners France and Germany last Sunday again attracting a four figure crowd.

As luck would have it, the resumption of the season coincides with unusually attractive fixtures. Glasgow City (1) play Hibernian (2), and Celtic (3) are at home to Rangers (4). At the other end of the table Forfar Farmington (7) host bottom club Stirling University, while SWPL2 leaders Hearts are at home to Kilmarnock.

The earlier league game between Hibs and City at Ainslie Park only drew a small crowd, probably because it was played on a Friday night to accommodate the television cameras. Today's is at Petershill Park and the home side invited the media to the ground during the week to drum up interest.

Seven of Shelley Kerr's World Cup squad are likely to be on show this afternoon. City have five and Hibs two, with home midfielder Leanne Crichton, who had a fine game against Argentina, pointing out: “If I was a young kid and I'd just watched my heroes playing on the telly at the World Cup, and then had a chance to go and watch them, I'd bite your hand off.” Crichton, who will be 32 on Tuesday, says she intends to see her playing days out at the Scottish champions.

The title already looks City's to lose. They went into the break five points clear of Hibs and Celtic, and have a game in hand over both. They haven't lost a league match since June 2016.

For Hibs, the Petershill Park clash is the start of four games in just nine days. They travel to Slovenia on Tuesday for Champions League group games against Georgian side FC Nike, Cardiff Met and hosts ZNK Pomurje.

Rachel McLauchlan is likely to make her City debut today, as, for Hibs, is Amy Muir. The Edinburgh club's head coach Grant Scott is aware that Muir and Jamie Lee-Napier, Scotland's best players in the recent under-19 tournament, were heavily used in the three games and has given them breathing space in subsequent club training sessions.

There is plenty to savour at the K Park also, and not least because it will be the first competitive game for new Rangers head coach Gregory Vignal. The former left back, a rookie to women's football, is up against a man who knows the Scottish game inside out, Celtic manager Eddie Wolecki Black.

The latter has signed Chloe Logan from Stirling and she will now fight for the goalkeeping berth with Megan Cunningham. The move makes Stirling's fight against relegation even more difficult – if they lose to Forfar at Station Park they will be six points adrift.

Like Rangers, the home side go into the second half of the season with a new head coach, Nathan Flight having replaced the short-lived Stevie Baxter.

And another thing...

IT was unfortunate, to put it mildly, that Scottish Women's Football had to issue a statement on Friday admitting a major scheduling problem.

An “administrative error” resulted in the fourth round of the SSE Scottish Women's Cup being omitted from the fixtures planner which was issued at the start of the season. The round will now be played on August 25, with all the league games scheduled for that day having to be re-arranged if one or both clubs are involved in the Cup.

SWF have put their hands up and taken responsibility. While the organisation has an increasing workload which is putting stress on how it operates, the bottom line is that it is an embarrassing oversight which is certain to anger the clubs having to re-arrange fixtures.