A request that this article title be changedto Women's Super League is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed.
The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features twelve fully professional teams.
The WSL discarded the winter football season for six years, between 2011 and 2016, playing through the summer instead (from March until October). Since 2017–18, the WSL has operated as a winter league running from September to May, as was traditional before 2011.
From season 2014 to 2017–18, the Women's Super League consisted of two divisions – FA WSL 1 and FA WSL 2 – and brought a promotion and relegation system to the WSL. From 2018–19, the second division was renamed the FA Women's Championship.
The WSL champions, runners-up and third-placed team qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League the following season. The current FA Women's Super League champions are Chelsea, who won the 2021–22 season.
The inaugural WSL season kicked-off on 13 April 2011 — at Imperial Fields, Chelsea's home ground — with a match between Chelsea and Arsenal, which Chelsea lost 0–1.[6]
Arsenal v Notts County in 2014
For the 2014 season a second division was created named FA WSL 2, with nine teams and one team being relegated from the WSL 1. WSL 1 remained as eight teams, with the WSL 2 having ten teams.[7][8][9][10] The new WSL 1 licence was awarded to Manchester City. Doncaster Rovers Belles were relegated to the WSL 2. They appealed against their demotion, but were unsuccessful.[11]
In December 2014, the FA WSL announced a two-year plan to expand the WSL 1 from an eight to a ten-team league. Two teams were promoted from the WSL 2 at the end of the 2015 season, while one team was relegated to the WSL 2 with the same happening at the end of the 2016 season.[12][13] Also, for the first time, a team from the FA Women's Premier League earned promotion to WSL 2, effectively connecting the WSL to the rest of the English women's football pyramid.[14]
The FA announced in July 2016 that the league would move from a summer league format to a winter one in line with the traditional football calendar in England, with matches played from September to May the following year. A shortened bridging season took place, branded as the FA WSL Spring Series, with teams playing each other once from February to May 2017.[15]
Following the 2017–18 FA WSL season, WSL 1 was renamed back to the FA Women's Super League, becoming a fully professional league for the first time, with eleven teams for the 2018–19 season.[16][17] Teams had to re-apply for their licence to earn their place in the league, requiring clubs to offer their players a minimum 16-hour a week contract and to form a youth academy as compulsory for the new licence criteria. Sunderland were moved down to tier 3 in the women's football pyramid after not receiving a licence whilst Brighton & Hove Albion and West Ham United were added to the league.[18]
In May 2020 the league was curtailed by the covid-19 pandemic. Chelsea were declared champions of the season based on a points per game (PPG) average.[20]
At the conclusion of 2020–21 campaign, four first-team managers resigned from their positions at WSL clubs Birmingham, Manchester United, Arsenal, and Aston Villa. Birmingham's outgoing manager Carla Ward questioned the commitment of some of the clubs involved in WSL,[21] whilst Manchester United's outgoing manager Casey Stoney allegedly quit because of unresolved issues surrounding lack of training facilities and other infrastructure.[22]
The FA Women's Super League currently consists of twelve clubs. Initially the league was described as professional, with the top four players on each team being paid an annual salary in excess of £20,000.[23] However, in November 2010 it was confirmed that the WSL would be semi-professional, with only a "handful" of top players full-time.[24] Clubs' annual wage bills were expected to be approximately one-tenth of those in the now-defunct American Women's Professional Soccer.[24]
The 2011 season included a mid-season break from 12 May 2011, to allow for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The season then resumed in early July, finishing in August 2011.[25]
After the league fixtures, the teams compete for a knock-out cup competition, the FA WSL Continental Cup.[26] For the 2014 season, the teams were placed into three regional groups of six. The group winners and best-performing runners-up all advanced to a knockout semi-finals.[27] Since the 2015 season, the WSL Continental Cup have been played simultaneously with the league season.
Following a review, the FA announced in September 2017 that a restructuring of the league and its licensing criteria would follow from the 2017–18 season with a goal of a fully professional top division of between 8 and 14 teams, and a second division of up to 12 semi-professional teams.[28] For the 2018–19 season, the league became fully professional.[16]
Clubs
The following twelve clubs will compete in the 2022–23 season, with foundation clubs displayed in bold text.
In the first season of the WSL clubs were subject to a squad cap of 20 players. This proved unpopular with both managers and players.[29][30] Ahead of the 2012 season, the rule was reviewed and the cap increased to 23 players.[31] Players from outside the European Union, like their male counterparts, are subject to Home Office work permit regulations.[32]
The FA said in April 2012 that the salary rule of allowing only four players per team to earn over £20,000 and the fact that all clubs are paid £70,000 per season from a Club Development Fund should limit any financial "imbalance" between clubs.[33] However, the introduction of a genuine salary cap remained under consideration for 2013 and beyond.[32] Doncaster manager John Buckley revealed that his club lost Rachel Williams and other players to Birmingham City because he was working to a budget eight times smaller than that enjoyed by Birmingham.[34]
When the 2012 WPS season was cancelled in the United States, Lincoln Ladies manager Glen Harris said that the next destination of that league's British players would be decided by "pounds, shillings and pence."[35] Ultimately Kelly Smith, Alex Scott and Gemma Davison all joined Arsenal,[36][37] while Ifeoma Dieke and Anita Asante joined the Swedish Damallsvenskan in preference to the WSL.
In September 2021, the Women's Super League announced the first inductees into the Barclays FA WSL Hall of Fame, recognising significant individuals who have contributed to the growth of the women's game in England and the WSL.[71]
Name
Duration in the WSL
Position
Contribution to English Football (at time of induction)
Player for Arsenal 2005–2017 - 5 FA Cups, 2 Community Shields and 1 Champion's League title. Currently holds the record for oldest player to score a WSL hat-trick.
Player for Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal and Reading - 1 Premier League Cup, 1 Women’s Cup, and 2 League titles. Voted FA Player's Player of the Year for the 2008–2009 season.
Manager of Chelsea since 2012 - 4 League titles, 2 FA Cups, 2 League Cups, 1 Community Shield, 1 WSL Spring Series. Voted Barclays FA WSL Manager of the Season 2019–2020 and 2020–2021.
2021
Sponsorship
In March 2019, the Women's Super League agreed a multi-million sponsorship deal with British bank Barclays from the start of the 2019–20 season. The three-year sponsorship deal is reported to be in excess of £10 million with a prize money pot of £500,000 for the league champions for the first time. The FA described the deal as "the biggest ever investment in UK women's sport by a brand".[72]
The WSL will begin to be featured on future Football Manager games as well as other Women’s football leagues from across the world. A launch date is yet to be announced.
Broadcasting
As of December 2020[update], matches are broadcast and streamed in the United Kingdom and Ireland via the FA Player, BT Sport, and the BBC (UK only). Internationally, select matches are broadcast in at least 12 countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Finland, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden, and the United States.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland
Since 2017–18, many FA WSL games have been broadcast on television by BT Sport, online and red-button by the BBC (UK only), and via the league's Facebook page.[76]BBC Sport has continued to air one game a weekend digitally via their iPlayer service and website,[77] while subscription channel Sky Sports also holds the rights to televise a selection of matches.[78][79]
Since the 2019–20 season, league matches have been streamed via the FA Player, as well as some FA Women's Championship games, highlights from the Women's FA Cup, FA Women's League Cup and international England games.[80][81] Some games in the FA Player are excluded, such as those broadcast on BT Sport in the UK and Ireland due to licensing rights.[82]
In March 2021 the FA WSL announced a new record-breaking three-year domestic television rights deal with Sky Sports and BBC beginning 2021–22. Sky will broadcast 44 matches per season with a further 22 matches shown on BBC platforms including a minimum of 18 on BBC One or Two. All other fixtures will remain available to stream for free on the FA Player, the governing body's own over OTT service.[83] Believed to be worth around £8m a season, it is the biggest broadcast deal of any professional women's football league in the world and marked the first time that the WSL's rights had been sold separately from the men's game.[84]
Previously, FA women's competitions were broadcast on ESPN from 2009 to 2013 as part of a four-year broadcast rights deal.[85] Six live matches were broadcast in 2011 in addition to weekly highlights, with ten games expected to be shown in 2012.[25][needs update] ESPN broadcast the opening game of the WSL between Chelsea and Arsenal at Imperial Fields, Morden on 13 April 2011, a game Arsenal won 1–0 with a first half goal by Gilly Flaherty. The second televised game took place on 12 May 2011 as Doncaster Belles lost 1–0 to Everton Ladies at the Keepmoat Stadium, Doncaster.
In 2013, BBC Two broadcast four WSL programmes during the 2013–14 season. Each programme featured goal round-ups, highlights, features and previews of England's World Cup qualifiers.[86]
Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with Chelsea F.C., a men's team in the Premier League. Chelsea Women were a founding member of the Super League in 2010. From 2005 to 2010, the side competed in the Premier League National Division, the top tier of women's football in England at the time.
Everton Football Club is an English women's association football team based in Liverpool, England, that competes in the FA Women's Super League, the top division of English women's football. Formed in 1983 as Hoylake W.F.C., it is now part of Everton F.C. and has played home games at Walton Hall Park in Walton since February 2020. The team has won the Premier League National Division once, the Premier League Cup once, and the Women's FA Cup twice.
Emma Carol Hayes is an English professional football manager. She is currently the manager of FA WSL club Chelsea Women. She previously served as the head coach and director of football operations for Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer in the United States from 2008 until 24 May 2010.
Gemma Suzanne Davison is an English footballer who plays as a winger. She has previously played for Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Reading whom she joined from Chelsea in 2018. After joining Arsenal at youth team level from Watford Ladies, Davison became a regular player and won several trophies. She also spent time in the United States playing for various American clubs in three separate spells. Davison is a full senior international player for the England women's national football team.
Ellen Toni Convery, commonly known as Ellen White, is an English international footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester City and the England national team. She is the record England women’s goal scorer. With England, she has competed at three FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments: in the 2011, 2015 and 2019, reaching the semi-finals in 2015 and 2019 and finishing third in 2015. White earned the Bronze Boot award at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. She represented Great Britain team at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
Jordan Nobbs is an English footballer who plays for FA WSL club Arsenal. She has been described as a "combative" central midfielder who "scores goals".
Rebecca "Becky" Jane is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Charlton Athletic in the FA Women's Championship. She previously played for Chelsea, Reading and Liverpool.
The 2012 FA WSL is the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league is to break between 8 July and 19 August to allow preparation for the 2012 London Olympics.
The 2013 FA WSL was the third season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 14 April and ended on 29 September.
The 2015 season of the Women's Super League was the fifth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season was played from 25 March to 4 October.
Millie Bright is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Chelsea and the England national team. She previously played for Doncaster Belles, Leeds Ladies and represented England on the under-19 and under-23 national teams.
Jessica Lucy Sigsworth is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Leicester City in the FA Women's Super League. She previously played for Notts County, Doncaster Rovers Belles and Manchester United, and has represented England at numerous youth levels.
Alessia Mia Teresa Russo is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester United in the FA Women's Super League and the England national team.
Ellie Roebuck is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FA WSL club Manchester City and the England national team. She has also represented England at youth level.
Kirsty Hanson is a footballer who plays as a forward for FA WSL club Manchester United and the Scotland national team.
The 2019–20 season was Chelsea Women's 28th competitive season and 10th consecutive season in the FA Women's Super League, the top flight of English women's football.
The 2020–21 FA WSL season was the tenth edition of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the third season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football.
The 2020–21 season was Chelsea Women's 29th competitive season and 11th consecutive season in the FA Women's Super League, the top flight of English women's football.
The following is a list of records and statistics of the FA Women's Super League — the highest level of women's football in England — since its inception in 2011. Barring total appearances, all statistics do not include the 2017 FA WSL Spring Series, which bridged the gap between the 2016 and 2017–18 season, featuring only 8 games for each team. Many league record team statistics only cover 22 and 14 game seasons, as they have been featured in the league at least more than once.
The 2021–22 FA WSL season was the eleventh season of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the fourth season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
