Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema fears the progress of the women’s game could be undone in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

In the week that AFC Fylde saw their women’s team disbanded it is feared they are the first of many who could find themselves in that situation.

And Dutch striker Miedema, speaking to BBC Sport, said: ”The women’s game will probably struggle after this.

“We’re quite lucky that we are at a club like Arsenal, which is a massive club, but I think that the growth the women’s game has had in the last couple of years will become a very difficult situation because a lot of clubs and Uefa/Fifa are missing out on a lot of money.

“I think if clubs need to cut anything, they will cut women’s footbal,l which is obviously for me not the right decision to make as a club.”

If the 2019/20 season is to get back underway, Miedema has suggested that players are given an opportunity to get back to match sharpness before returning to the pitch.

Speaking about the Eredivisie being cancelled in the Netherlands, Miedema added;: “I think right now Holland is a bit further ahead than we are in the UK and the money that goes around in football, in Holland it’s not comparable with what is in England.

“If that’s the safest option [to cancel the league] for us players and for everyone around us, then it’s probably an opportunity to just cancel the league and start again next year.”

The Dutch FA (KNVB) decided to place Ajax and AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League, without finishing the campaign and awarding a title, and put PSV Eindhoven and Ajax in the Women’s Champions League for the 2020/21 season.

And Miedema, who holds the international goalscoring record for the Dutch women, added: “I’m not really sure if the FA is thinking about doing it that way, especially on the men’s side with Liverpool miles ahead of Manchester City.

“If they are going to crown a champion, I think it would be really hard on Chelsea in our league with them having a game played less than City, but that’s just something that I think in this situation we have to accept and move on from.”