Sheffield United to compete in WSL2 next season after being handed reprieve from relegation | OneFootball

Sheffield United will remain in the English second tier next season with the club having been handed a reprieve from relegation.

The Blades ended the 2024/2025 campaign bottom of the Barclays WSL2 table and they were set to drop into the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division, however, the South Yorkshire club have now received a lifeline.

Last month, Blackburn Rovers controversially resigned from the Barclays WSL2 as a result of increased licencing demands in the women’s elite game and a lack of increasing matchday revenue. Rovers’ withdrawal left a vacancy in next season’s competition which the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL) were fully-committed to filling.

WSL Full-Time have this afternoon been provided with an update from the WPLL which confirmed that Sheffield United have been reprieved from relegation and that they will remain a Barclays WSL2 club next term.

A statement from the WPLL read: ‘Following Blackburn Rovers Women FC’s decision to withdraw from the Barclays Women’s Super League 2 (formerly Barclays Women’s Championship), WSL Football decided that the resulting vacancy should be filled.

After careful consideration of all the options in accordance with the FA Women’s Football Pyramid Regulations, WSL Football requested that Sheffield United Women FC be given a reprieve from relegation to take what would otherwise have been the vacant space. The FA approved the request and gave permission to WSL Football to not relegate a club from the Barclays Women’s Super League 2 at the conclusion of the 2024/2025 season.

As a result, Sheffield United Women FC, who would otherwise have been relegated, will begin the 2025/2026 season in Barclays Women’s Super League 2. The promotions of Nottingham Forest Women FC and Ipswich Town FC Women from the Women’s National League are unaffected by this process.’

Sheffield United will now begin planning for an eighth consecutive campaign in the second tier in 2025/2026.