Women's Super League

Women's Super League
Country	England
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	22 March 2010
Number of teams	12
Relegation to	None (2011–2012) FA WSL 2 (2013–2018) Women's Championship (2018–present)
Levels on pyramid	1 (WSL 1) 2 (WSL 2)
Domestic cup(s)	FA Women's Cup FA WSL Cup
UEFA cup(s)	UEFA Champions League
Current champions	Chelsea (7th title) (2023–24)
Most successful club	Chelsea (7 titles)
TV	Sky Sports BT Sport
Website	Official website
2024–25

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 league replaced the FA Women's Premier League National Division as the highest level of women's football in England, with eight teams competing in the inaugural 2011 season. In the WSL's first two seasons, there was no relegation from the division.

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 Women's Super League champions are Chelsea, who won their fifth title in the 2021–22 season.

Clubs

The following twelve clubs compete in the 2022–23 season, with foundation clubs displayed in bold text.

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2021–22 season
Arsenal	Borehamwood	Meadow Park	4,502	2nd
Aston Villa	Walsall	Bescot Stadium	11,000	9th
Brighton & Hove Albion	Crawley	Broadfield Stadium	6,134	7th
Chelsea	Kingston upon Thames	Kingsmeadow	4,850	1st
Everton	Liverpool	Walton Hall Park	2,200	10th
Leicester City	Leicester	King Power Stadium	32,261	11th
Liverpool	Birkenhead	Prenton Park	16,587	12 !WC, 1st
Manchester City	Manchester	Academy Stadium	7,000	3rd
Manchester United	Leigh	Leigh Sports Village	12,000	4th
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161	8th
Tottenham Hotspur	Leyton	Brisbane Road	9,271	5th
West Ham United	Dagenham	Victoria Road	6,078	6th

Champions

Chelsea are the current 2015 WSL champions. Liverpool took the 2014 WSL title, retaining their crown from 2013. Arsenal were the winners of the 2012 WSL. It was their ninth consecutive English championship after winning the last seven editions of the FA Women's Premier League.

By season

Year	Winner	Runners-up	Third	Top scorers	Goals
2011	Arsenal	Birmingham City	Everton	Rachel Williams (Birmingham City)	14
2012	Arsenal	Birmingham City	Everton	Kim Little (Arsenal)	11
2013	Liverpool	Bristol Academy	Arsenal	Natasha Dowie (Liverpool)	13
2014	Liverpool	Chelsea	Birmingham City	Karen Carney (Birmingham)	8
2015	Chelsea	Manchester City	Arsenal	Beth Mead (Sunderland)	12
2016	Manchester City	Chelsea	Arsenal	Eniola Aluko (Chelsea)	9
2017–18	Chelsea	Manchester City	Arsenal	Ellen White (Birmingham City)	15
2018–19	Arsenal	Manchester City	Chelsea	Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)	22
2019–20	Chelsea	Manchester City	Arsenal	Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)	16
2020–21	Chelsea	Manchester City	Arsenal	Sam Kerr (Chelsea)	21
2021–22	Chelsea	Arsenal	Manchester City	Sam Kerr (Chelsea)	20

By team

Performance by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runners-up
Chelsea	2	2	2015, 2017–18	2014, 2016
Arsenal	2	0	2011, 2012
Liverpool	2	0	2013, 2014
Manchester City	1	2	2016	2015, 2017–18
Birmingham City	0	2		2011, 2012
Bristol Academy	0	1		2013

External links

• Official website
• WSL at thefa.com
• WSL at WomensSoccerUnited.com