The Women's Super League (WSL), 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 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. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, 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 Women's Super League champions are Chelsea, who won their sixth title in the 2022–23 season.
In November 2023, all 24 Women's Super League and Women's Championship clubs had unanimously agreed to form a new organisation, named NewCo, to run the women's professional game in England, taking over from the FA.
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 1–0.[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 a 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 league, 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 was 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 average.[20]
At the conclusion of the 2020–21 season, 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]
In November 2023, it was announced that all 24 Women's Super League and Women's Championship clubs had unanimously agreed to form a new organisation to run the women's professional game in England, taking over from the FA. The organization is called NewCo, and Nikki Doucet has been named CEO.[23][24]
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.[25] However, in November 2010 it was confirmed that the WSL would be semi-professional, with only a "handful" of top players full-time.[26] Clubs' annual wage bills were expected to be approximately one-tenth of those in the now-defunct American Women's Professional Soccer.[26]
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.[27]
After the league fixtures, the teams compete for a knock-out cup competition, the FA WSL Continental Cup.[28] 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-final.[29] 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.[30] For the 2018–19 season, the league became fully professional.[16]
Clubs
The following twelve clubs are competing in the 2023–24 season:
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.[31][32] Ahead of the 2012 season, the rule was reviewed and the cap increased to 23 players.[33] Players from outside the European Union, like their male counterparts, are subject to Home Office work permit regulations.[34]
The FA said in April 2012 that the salary rule of allowing only four players per team to earn over £20,000 and that all clubs are paid £70,000 per season from a Club Development Fund should limit any financial "imbalance" between clubs.[35] However, the introduction of a genuine salary cap remained under consideration for 2013 and beyond.[34] 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.[36]
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."[37] Ultimately Kelly Smith, Alex Scott and Gemma Davison all joined Arsenal,[38][39] while Ifeoma Dieke and Anita Asante joined the Swedish Damallsvenskan in preference to the WSL.
On 20 May 2023, Reading manager Kelly Chambers noted that the team — the only WSL club not affiliated with a men's Premier League club – struggled to compete with a smaller budget for wages than women's sides with Premier League backing. She cited the £250,000 fee paid by Tottenham Hotspur for Bethany England, while some Reading staff were required to work multiple roles from lack of investment by its affiliated men's side in the EFL Championship.[40]
↑ The FA WSL Spring Series was an interim edition and is not recognised as an official title as it has not been played throughout the whole season.[41][42][43]
↑ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season ended early and the league was decided on a points-per-game basis.
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.[64]
Finances
Sponsorship
As of 30November2022[update], the WSL's total annual sponsorship revenue was estimated to be about $14.72 million.[65]
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".[66] Barclays renewed the sponsorship with an additional three-year deal on 15 December 2021, doubled its rights fee, and extended its sponsorship to the FA Women's Championship.[67][68]
Most shirt sponsorships for women's sides affiliated with men's clubs are bundled and not sold or valued separately.[72]
Investment from Premier League clubs
In the 2022–23 season, 11 of the WSL's 12 teams were affiliates of men's Premier League clubs,[73] with the only exception being Reading, who were affiliated with a lower-tier men's side.[40]Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur combined had spent a total of £123.6 million on their women's sides from the league's founding in 2011 to the 2022–23 season. A report in The Telegraph compared this spending to the £186 million those clubs' spent on agents' fees for men's player transactions from 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023. Those clubs spent £33 million on their women's sides over the same period.[74]
Declined investments
In July 2022, The FA declined a £150 million offer from an unnamed private equity firm to purchase the league. Baroness Sue Campbell had noted that The FA had refused other private equity offers.[75]
Broadcasting
As of 2021[update], matches are broadcast and streamed in the United Kingdom and Ireland via The FA Player, Sky Sports, and the BBC (UK only). Internationally, select matches are broadcast in at least twelve 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 with the 2021–22 season. Sky would 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 would remain available to stream for free on The FA Player, the governing body's own over OTT service.[83] Believed to be worth around £8 million 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.[27][needs update] ESPN broadcast the opening game of the WSL between Chelsea and Arsenal at Imperial Fields 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]
International
For countries without broadcast rights, all WSL matches are available on The FA Player.[87]
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.
Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Kingston upon Thames, London. Founded in 1992, they compete in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England, and plays their home games at the Kingsmeadow with some select games at Stamford Bridge. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with Chelsea F.C., the 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.
Emma Carol Hayes is an English professional football manager who is 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. She will depart Chelsea at the end of the 2023–24 Women's Super League season as she is set to become the new manager of the United States women's national team after the WSL season is over.
Ellen Toni Convery is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. She is the record goalscorer for the England women's national team.
Jordan Nobbs is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Aston Villa. She previously played for Sunderland and Arsenal.
The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Prior to this it was known as the FA WSL Cup. The sponsor Continental AG was announced on 19 August 2011, meaning that for sponsorship reasons the competition is referred to as the FA Women's Continental Tyres League Cup.
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.
Millie Bright is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Women's Super League club Chelsea who she captains, and the England national team. She previously played for Doncaster Belles and Leeds Ladies, and represented England on the under-19 and under-23 national teams.
Ellie Roebuck is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England national team. She has also represented England at youth level.
The 2019–20 FA WSL season was the ninth edition of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the second season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football and the twelve teams contesting the season was the greatest number in the league's history to date, following a steady increase from the original eight. It is the first under the new Barclays title sponsorship following a landmark multi-million pound investment.
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 Women's Super League (WSL) — 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 Women's Super League Golden Boot is an annual association football award presented to the leading goalscorer in Women's Super League (WSL). The award is sponsored by Barclays. The most recent winner is Rachel Daly who scored 22 goals for Aston Villa in the 2022–23 season. Vivianne Miedema and Sam Kerr are the only players to win the Golden Boot multiple times having both won it twice.
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.
The 2022–23 Women's Super League season was the 12th season of the Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the fifth season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football.
The 2022–23 Aston Villa W.F.C. season was the club's 27th season under their Aston Villa affiliation, the organisation's 49th overall season in existence and their third season in the Women's Super League, the highest level of the football pyramid. Along with competing in the WSL, the club also contested two domestic cup competitions: the FA Cup and the League Cup.
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