What is the Women's Super League?
The Barclays Women’s Super League is the top tier of women’s football in England. It was run by The FA from its launch until 2024, when the clubs took it over through Women’s Professional Leagues Limited — rebranded WSL Football in 2025 — which also runs the second tier, Barclays WSL2; the two leagues have 26 clubs between them. Barclays has been title sponsor since 2019.[1] [2] [3] [5]
How does it work?
Fourteen clubs play a double round-robin of 26 matches; the top three qualify for the UEFA Women’s Champions League. From 2026–27 the bottom club is relegated to WSL2 and the 13th-placed club enters a promotion-relegation playoff. The expansion from 12 to 14 was achieved by a one-off “three up, one down” at the end of 2025–26: Birmingham City and Crystal Palace came up as WSL2 champions and runners-up, Charlton Athletic beat Leicester City on penalties in the playoff on 23 May 2026, and Leicester went down. The 2026–27 season runs from 4 September 2026 to 23 May 2027.[2] [4]
Since when does it exist?
The league kicked off in April 2011 with eight clubs — Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0 in the first match — replacing the FA Women’s Premier League National Division as the top tier, and went fully professional in 2018–19. Chelsea won six titles in a row from 2019–20, the last of them with an unbeaten 22-match season, before Manchester City’s 2025–26 championship; the 2019–20 season was curtailed by the pandemic and settled on points per game, and Manchester City clinched the 2025–26 title on 6 May 2026.[3] [5] [7]
| Season | Pool / Format | Host cities |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | Manchester City | 55 points, 4 clear of Arsenal — clinched 6 May 2026 |
| 2024–25 | Chelsea | Sixth straight title; unbeaten 22-match season — runner-up Arsenal |
| 2023–24 | Chelsea | Runner-up Manchester City |
| 2022–23 | Chelsea | Runner-up Manchester United |
| 2021–22 | Chelsea | Runner-up Arsenal |
| 2020–21 | Chelsea | Runner-up Manchester City |
| 2019–20 | Chelsea | Season curtailed by the pandemic; decided on points per game — runner-up Manchester City |
| 2018–19 | Arsenal | Runner-up Manchester City |
| 2017–18 | Chelsea | Runner-up Manchester City |
| 2016 | Manchester City | Calendar-year season; runner-up Chelsea — a 2017 Spring Series bridged the move to a winter season |
Champions of the last ten seasons (the 2016 season was played within the calendar year).
Why does it matter?
England was the No. 1 association in UEFA’s women’s ranking on 28 December 2025 (70.082 points), narrowly ahead of Spain. The record WSL crowd is 60,160, for Arsenal against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in February 2024, and Arsenal drew 56,537 against Chelsea on 8 November 2025. The 2021 Sky Sports and BBC agreement, with 57 live matches a season, is described by the league as groundbreaking for women’s football.[3] [5] [6]
References
- WSL Football — official site. Accessed September 2026.
- WSL Football — About. Accessed September 2026.
- WSL Football — History. Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2026–27 Women’s Super League (background). Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — Women’s Super League (background). Accessed September 2026.
- UEFA — UEFA rankings 2025: which teams and nations are on top?. Accessed September 2026.
- Wikipedia — 2025–26 Women’s Super League (background). Accessed September 2026.