The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions which was run by the English Football Association until 2014 when it changed to become an FA branded league run by an independent elected management committee. Originally founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League included England's top division from 1991 to 2010.
The WPL National Division became the country's level 2 division from 2010–11 to 2012–13 and ended in 2013, replaced at level 2 by FA WSL 2, later renamed the Championship. The Northern Division and Southern Division teams (continuing at level 3) have since played for promotion to this division instead.
Before the National League, women's teams nationally had competed in the WFA Cup (Women's FA Cup) since 1970, and there were English regional leagues, but this was the first regular nationwide competition of its kind.
The Women's National League was inaugurated in the 1991–92 season by the Women's Football Association (WFA),[1] with a monetary grant from the Sports Council.[2] Eight teams played in the top flight in that year. From the League's foundation, it consisted of a national premier division and two lower divisions, the Northern and Southern Divisions, whose winners each season were promoted to the top flight.
Doncaster Belles were the first champions of the Women's National League in 1991–92
From 1991–92 until 2012–13, the national premier division was above the Northern and Southern Divisions. Since 1991–92, the Northern and Southern Divisions have run on an equal basis with promotion, and this continues today. The terms Women's Premiership and Ladies Premiership were generally used for the National Division only.
The Women's Premier League remained level 1 and 2 of women's football until the end of the 2009–10 season. From 2000 until 2008, the WPL champions competed in the annual FA Women's Community Shield.
The National Division's most successful clubs were Arsenal (12 titles), Croydon (3 titles), Doncaster Belles (2 titles and 7 times runners-up), Everton (1 title and 5 times runners-up), and Sunderland (3 titles at league level 2).
The Women's Premier League lost several clubs prior to the 2010–11 season and the National Division was demoted to level 2, due to the creation of the FA WSL in 2011.[4] (The WSL was a summer league for its first six years, as opposed to the WPL's winter format.) Strangely, the lower divisions were still given the name "Premier League" for eight more seasons. The number of clubs competing in the Northern and Southern Divisions decreased from 12 to 10. The National Division decreased from 12 clubs to eight (2010–11), then increased to 10 clubs (2011–12 and 2012–13).
After the WPL National Division's three seasons at level 2, that division was scrapped after 2012–13, due to the FA's decision to add another WSL division, WSL 2, for its 2014 season, which included some clubs that moved from the WPL.
The only divisions in 2013–14 with WPL branding were the Northern and Southern Divisions at league level 3.
From the 2014–15 season, the Women's Premier League incorporated the four existing Combination Women's Football Leagues (level 4), as the Premier League's "Division One", with four groups of Division One leagues: North, Midlands, South East and South West.[5]
2014 saw a significant change with the operation of the league moving away from The FA with an independent Management Committee elected by the clubs to run league operations and administer the competition on their behalf.
The FA proposed rebranding the WPL collectively as the Women's Championship League,[6] but instead the clubs elected to keep the name Women's Premier League until 2018, thereafter it became known as The FA Women’s National League - still an FA branded league but run independently from The FA.
The winners of the Northern and Southern Divisions have played each other since 2014–15 in a single play-off at a neutral venue, to win the Women's Premier League/National League championship and promotion into the level 2 division. This was the first instance of promotion from the WPL to the WSL when the first play-off occurred in 2015. In that year's play-off between Portsmouth and Sheffield F.C. at Stratford FC's ground, Sheffield won through a stoppage-time goal.
The six divisions were renamed the Women's National League from 2018–19.
Tottenham won the Southern Division and the 2016–17 promotion playoff
Level 3 champions:
Automatic promotion ended in 2012–13. From 2014–15 onwards, the club marked in bold won the League championship play-off between the Northern and Southern Division winners, and won promotion to WSL 2/Women's Championship.
↑ 2019: Promotion of both champions to Championship, as FA WSL increased to 12 clubs
Division One champions
Following the incorporation of the Combination Women's Football Leagues into the Women's Premier League in 2014, the Women's Premier League/National League consisted of an additional four regional leagues below the Northern and Southern Divisions.
Currently there are 71 clubs in the League, with two tiers and six divisions: the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions (level 3 in the football pyramid), and the regional Division One North, Division One Midlands, Division One South East and Division One South West (all level 4).[7]
These numbers have varied historically due to the changing structure of women's football.
Current teams
In the 2022–23 season, 27 teams compete in the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions (14 teams in the National Division South and 13 in the National Division North) and 47 teams compete in Division One (12 teams per division except for Division One South West which has 11 following the disbanding of Southampton Saints the previous season).
The main cup competition of the National League is the FA Women's National League Cup, a knock-out competition involving all of the teams within the League's six divisions. Due to the changing structure of women's football, this competition has historically varied from a straight knock-out competition to a competition with a preliminary group stage before reaching the knock-out stage. The first Cup-winners were Arsenal in the 1991–92 WFA Women's National League Cup. The first winners of a Cup without top-flight teams were Barnet F.C. Ladies in the 2010–11 FA Women's Premier League Cup.
The FA Women's National League Plate was introduced in the 2014–15 season (as the Women's Premier League Plate). Under the current format, the teams that are eliminated from the opening round of the League Cup are entered into the Plate.
The FA Women's Premier League National Division was a football division in England. From 1991 until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. During its final three seasons, the division operated as the second level of the league pyramid from 2010 to 2013. The division was played on a home and away basis, with each team playing each other twice, and points being awarded in the standard football format.
The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018.
Women's football has been played in England for over a century, sharing a common history with the men's game in the country in which the Laws of the Game were codified.
Sunderland Association Football Club Women is an English women's football club that plays in the Women's Championship. They play their home games at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground in Hetton-le-Hole, in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.
Aston Villa Women Football Club is the women's football team of Aston Villa, currently playing in the Women's Super League. The club has been in existence since 1973. Originally titled Solihull F.C., the team affiliated to Aston Villa in 1989, becoming Villa Aztecs, and became the official Aston Villa women's side in 1996. The club have a senior team, a reserve team and several other teams of younger age groups under a Regional Talent Club FA license.
Manchester City Women's Football Club are an English women's football club based in Manchester who play in the FA Women's Super League. They are affiliated with Manchester City who play in the Premier League.
Leicester City Women Football Club is an English professional women's football club based in Leicester. Founded in 2004 as an independent club, Leicester City Women were acquired in 2020 by King Power, the parent company of men's affiliate Leicester City FC. They currently compete in the FA Women's Super League, the first level of the English football pyramid.
Reading Football Club Women is an English women's football club affiliated with Reading FC. The Club plays in the Women's Championship, the second tier of English women's football. Reading F.C. Women previously played in the FA Women's Premier League National Division after being promoted from the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division, which they were relegated to at the end of the 2011–12 season. They had previously won promotion to the National Division from the Southern Division in 2009–10. They gained entry to an expanded FA WSL in 2014.
The 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division was the inaugural season of nationalised women's league football in England. The Women's Football Association (WFA) obtained a grant from the Sports Council in order to launch the league, described by Jean Williams as "a crucial step in adopting the structures of the male game."
The Combination Women's Football Leagues were a group of women's football leagues in England from 1998 until 2014.
Sheffield Football Club Ladies is an English women's football club affiliated with Sheffield F.C. The club won the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division in 2014–15 and the following promotion play-off and is the first club to earn promotion to the FA WSL 2.
The Women's Championship is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2.
The FA Women's National League Plate is an association football tournament organised by the FA Women's National League (WNL). It is the WNL's second league cup competition, played alongside the National League Cup, and is a single-elimination knock-out tournament.
The 2015–16 season of the FA Women's Premier League is the 24th season of the competition, which began in 1992. Formerly the top flight of women's football in England, this season it sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the two divisions of the FA Women's Super League and above the eight regional football leagues.
The 2016–17 season of the FA Women's Premier League is the 25th season of the competition, which began in 1992. It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the two divisions of the FA Women's Super League and above the eight regional football leagues.
The 2017–18 season of the FA Women's Premier League is the 26th season of the competition, which began in 1992. It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the two divisions of the FA Women's Super League and above the eight regional football leagues.
The 2019–20 FA Women's National League was the 28th season of the competition, and the second since a restructure and rebranding of the top four tiers of English football by The Football Association. Began in 1992, it was previously known as the FA Women's Premier League. It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the FA Women's Championship and above the eight regional football leagues.
Southampton Football Club Women is an English women's football club affiliated with Southampton FC. Based in Southampton, the club plays in the FA Women's Championship in the 2023–24 season after winning promotion from the FA Women's National League South in 2022.
The 2020–21 FA Women's National League was the 29th season of the competition, and the third since a restructure and rebranding of the top four tiers of English football by The Football Association. Starting in 1992, it was previously known as the FA Women's Premier League. It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the FA Women's Championship and above the eight regional football leagues.
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