Women's Super League 2

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Women's Super League 2
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Organising bodyWSL Football
First season2014
CountryEngland
Number of clubs12
Level on pyramid2
Promotion toWomen's Super League
Relegation toNational League North
National League South
Domestic cupWomen's FA Cup
League cupWomen's League Cup
Current championsLondon City Lionesses (1st title)
(2024–25)
Most championshipsEleven teams (1 title each)
Websitewomensleagues.thefa.com
Current: 2025–26 Women's Super League 2

The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the WSL 2 and was later rebranded as the FA Women's Championship prior to the 2018–19 season.[1][2] "The FA" was subsequently dropped from the league name ahead of the 2022–23 season,[3] prior to new ownership for the 2024–25 season by clubs in the first and second tiers.[4] Before the start of the 2025–26 season, the league was rebranded again under its current name, the Women's Super League 2.[5]

WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 division, the FA Women's Premier League (WPL) National Division, which ended after the 2012–13 season. The WPL's last national division champions, Sunderland, were not promoted and also became the first winners of WSL 2 in the 2014 season. In addition to Sunderland, other WPL clubs that joined WSL 2 in 2014 were Watford and Aston Villa. From 2014 to 2016, WSL 2 ran a summer-based season calendar before reverting to the winter season in 2017–18, the same as WSL 1. Having sponsored the first tier since the 2019–20 season, 2022–23 marked the first season of Barclays as the title partner of the division.[6]

For the 2023–24 season, changes were made so that two clubs would be relegated from the league allowing two team each from National League North and South to be promoted to the Championship rather than having to play a season end playoff. This change resulted in two teams being relegated from the Championship at the end of the season. No changes were made to promotion from the league to the WSL with still only one promotion and one relegation respectively.[7] For the 2024–25 season, the league was reduced to eleven teams, due to Reading's withdrawal from the Championship, citing financial issues.[8] Ahead of the 2025–26 season, the two relegation spots were introduced again as the league returned to a twelve-team format.[9]

History

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File:Sunderland AFC Ladies promotion celebration.jpg
Sunderland AFC Ladies won the FA WSL 2 in 2014

For the 2014 season, the FA Women's Super League was expanded to create a second division with nine new teams added and one team being relegated from the WSL 1. WSL 1 remained as eight teams, with one new team inserted, with the WSL 2 having ten teams.[10][11][12][13]

The new WSL 1 licence was awarded to Manchester City in 2014. Doncaster Rovers Belles were relegated to WSL 2, with nine new licences awarded to London Bees, Durham, Aston Villa, Millwall Lionesses, Yeovil Town, Reading, Sunderland, Watford, and Oxford United.[14] Doncaster Belles appealed against their demotion, but were unsuccessful.[15]

In December 2014, the FA WSL announced a two-year plan to expand WSL 1 from an eight to ten-team league. Two teams would be promoted from WSL 2, while one team would be relegated to WSL 2.[16][17] Also, for the first time, a team would earn promotion to WSL 2 from the Women's Premier League (now National League), effectively connecting the WSL to the rest of the English women's football pyramid.[18]

This left WSL 1 with nine teams and WSL 2 with ten teams for the 2016 season, and with the process repeated the following year, both WSL 1 and WSL 2 consisted of ten teams each for the 2017–18 season.[16] In addition to being able to prove their financial solvency, clubs applying for entry to the WSL had to show they would attract an average of 350 spectators in 2016, increasing to at least 400 in 2017.[19]

FA WSL 2 was renamed the Women's Championship prior to the 2018–19 season.[1] The WPLL then made the decision to rebrand the Women's Championship back to WSL 2; it will be known as such from the beginning of the 2025–26 season.[20]

In May 2020 the Championship season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] In 2022 the league was renamed to simply the Women's Championship, with the FA part being dropped.[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] From the 2024–25 season, the company was known as the Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL).[25][4]

On 23 March 2025, Newcastle United W.F.C. and Sunderland A.F.C Women set a new attendance record of 38,502 in the Women's Championship in their second meeting in the league, a Tyne-Wear derby match played at St James' Park in Newcastle.[26] The previous record had been an attendance of 15,387 set in 2024 in the reverse fixture in the same season.[27]

Clubs

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The following twelve clubs are competing in the 2025–26 season.

Winners

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Unless noted, only the winners were promoted to the Women's Super League.
Year Winner Runners-up Third Top scorers Goals
2014 Sunderland Doncaster Rovers Belles Reading Fran Kirby (Reading) 24
2015 Reading Doncaster Rovers Belles p Everton Courtney Sweetman-Kirk (Doncaster Rovers Belles) 20
2016 Yeovil Town Bristol City p Everton Iniabasi Umotong (Oxford United)
Jo Wilson (London Bees)		 13
Spring Series[a] Everton Doncaster Rovers Belles Millwall Lionesses Courtney Sweetman-Kirk (Doncaster Rovers Belles) 9
2017–18 Doncaster Rovers Belles r Brighton & Hove Albion p Millwall Lionesses Jessica Sigsworth (Doncaster Rovers Belles) 15
2018–19 Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur p Charlton Athletic Jessica Sigsworth (Manchester United) 17
2019–20 Aston Villa Sheffield United Durham Katie Wilkinson (Sheffield United) 15
2020–21 Leicester City Durham Liverpool Katie Wilkinson (Sheffield United) 19
2021–22 Liverpool London City Lionesses Bristol City Abi Harrison (Bristol City) 17
2022–23 Bristol City Birmingham City London City Lionesses Melissa Johnson (Charlton Athletic) 12
2023–24 Crystal Palace Charlton Athletic Sunderland Elise Hughes (Crystal Palace) 16
2024–25 London City Lionesses Birmingham City Charlton Athletic Isobel Goodwin (London City Lionesses) 16

Notes

p.^ Second-placed team was also promoted
r.^ Withdrew from the league and relegated

Notes

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  1. ^ The shortened 2017 edition was known as the Spring Series and ran from February to May 2017.

References

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  1. ^ a b FA Women's Championship: New name chosen for England's second tier Archived 1 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine BBC Sport, 26 February 2018
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