Women's Championship (England)

Women's Championship

Founded	2014
Country	England
Number of teams	11
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	FA Women's Super League
Relegation to	National League North National League South
Domestic cup(s)	Women's FA Cup FA Women's League Cup
League cup(s)	FA WSL Cup
Current champions	Manchester United (1st title) (2018–19)
Most championships	Sunderland Reading Yeovil Town Doncaster Rovers Belles Manchester United (1 title each)
Website	womenscompetitions.thefa.com
Current: 2019–20 FA Women's Championship

The Football Association Women's Championship is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2), before being renamed in 2018.

History

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

In December 2014, the FA WSL announced a two-year plan to expand WSL 1 from an eight to ten-team league. Two teams will be promoted from WSL 2, while one team will be relegated to WSL 2. Also, for the first time, a team from the FA Women's Premier League earned promotion to WSL 2, effectively connecting the WSL to the rest of the English women's football pyramid.

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. In addition to being able to prove their financial solvency, clubs applying for entry to the WSL must show they will attract an average of 350 spectators in 2016, increasing to at least 400 in 2017.

Clubs

The following eleven clubs are competing in the 2019–20 season.

Aston Villa

Blackburn Rovers

Charlton

Coventry United

Crystal Palace

Durham

Leicester City

Lewes

London Bees

Lionesses

Sheffield United

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Location of clubs for the 2019–20 season

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2018–19 season
Aston Villa	Tamworth	The Lamb Ground	4,000	6th
Blackburn Rovers	Bamber Bridge	Irongate	3,000	WNL North, 1st
Charlton Athletic	Bexley	The Oakwood	1,180	3rd
Coventry United	Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	WNL South, 1st
Crystal Palace	Bromley	Hayes Lane	5,000	10th
Durham	Durham	New Ferens Park	3,000	4th
Leicester City	Quorn	Farley Way Stadium	1,400	7th
Lewes	Lewes	The Dripping Pan	3,000	9th
London Bees	Canons Park	The Hive Stadium	5,176	8th
London City Lionesses	Dartford	Princes Park	4,100	N/A
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Olympic Legacy Park	2,000	5th

Winners

Year	Winner	Runners-up	Third	Top scorers	Goals
2014	Sunderland	Doncaster Rovers Belles a	Reading	Fran Kirby (Reading)	24
2015	Reading	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Everton	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk (Doncaster Rovers Belles)	20
2016	Yeovil Town	Bristol City	Everton	Iniabasi Umotong (Oxford United) Jo Wilson (London Bees)	13
2017	Everton	Doncaster Rovers Belles b	Millwall Lionesses	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk (Doncaster Rovers Belles)	9
2017–18	Doncaster Rovers Belles c	Brighton & Hove Albion	Millwall Lionesses	Jessica Sigsworth (Doncaster Rovers Belles)	15
2018–19	Manchester United	Tottenham Hotspur	Charlton Athletic	Jessica Sigsworth (Manchester United)	17

Notes
Unless noted, teams in first and second were promoted to the FA WSL.

a.^ Not promoted

b.^ Promoted

c.^ Withdrew from league and relegated

Attendances

In the 2014 season there were 251 fans at a WSL 2 match on average. In 2015 it increased to 341 with thirteen matches reaching attendances of more than 500 spectators.

External links

• Official website