Women’s Super League to consider scrapping relegation in major revamp | OneFootball

The Women’s Super League is considering abolishing relegation as part of a radical proposal to grow the sport that will be discussed by the clubs at a meeting on Friday.

The Guardian has learned that the 23 WSL and Championship clubs have been called to a strategy summit by the newly formed company that runs both competitions, Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd, which will ask them to explore a range of options to increase the profile, sustainability and profitability of women’s football.

WPLL took over responsibility for running the WSL and Championship from the FA under the leadership of chief executive, Nikki Doucet, last summer and is eager to pursue an expansionist agenda. The new company has already had successes, securing a new five-year TV deal with Sky Sports and the BBC worth £65m, and a three-year title sponsorship for the WSL with Barclays worth £45m.

Buoyed up by these new deals, and Chelsea’s recent landmark signing of the first $1m women’s player, Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave, WPLL is keen to explore its options for further growth.

One of the proposals to be discussed today is understood to involve an expansion of both the WSL and Championship, with the proviso that there would be no relegation between the two divisions initially.

A source who will be involved in Friday’s talks confirmed that radical proposals will be on the agenda, and the clubs are open to any ideas that could help grow the sport.

The structural changes would not be introduced until the 2026-27 season at the earliest. It is unclear when the proposals will be put to the clubs for a formal vote, although it is unlikely to take place on Friday.

The rationale behind the proposal is that removing the threat of relegation would encourage owners to invest and help develop a more competitive league, which is currently dominated by Chelsea, who have won the past five WSL titles.

Another idea set to be discussed is maintaining promotion from the Championship without relegation from the top flight, so that the WSL would gradually expand by one club every season.

In addition to the controversial removal of relegation, the mechanism for establishing which clubs join the expanded WSL will also be contentious.

The ambitious and well-resourced Birmingham City and London City Lionesses currently fill the top two places in the Championship, but relative minnows Durham are third, while big Premier League clubs who have been late to women’s football such as Newcastle would also make a claim to be included in the top flight.

In another change, the Championship is set to be rebranded as WSL2 in a move which could take place in time for the start of next season. There are only 11 teams in the Championship this season following the late withdrawal of Reading after owner Dai Yongge cut funding for their women’s operation.

Initially created as a single-tier, eight-team breakaway league in 2011 with no relegation, the WSL expanded to include a second tier from 2014 onwards, originally named WSL 2. In the summer of 2018 there was another major expansion after a licence application process and the introduction of fully professional criteria for the top flight, so from the 2018-19 campaign onwards the top tier had 11 teams, while the semi-professional second tier – which was rebranded as the Women’s Championship – also consisted of 11 teams. The WSL grew to 12 teams a year later. The Championship remained at 11 teams for the 2019-20 campaign but only because Yeovil had been demoted from tier 1 to tier 3 because of financial problems.

The Covid-19 pandemic then further delayed the addition of a 12th team into the second tier – because the lower leagues were declared null and void in the spring of 2020 and nobody was promoted.

But since the 2021-22 campaign, the top two teams have each consisted of 12 teams, with a one up, one down promotion and relegation system. This term, only 11 teams have competed in tier two after Reading’s eleventh-hour withdrawal last June.

WPLL declined to comment.

Header image: [Photograph: John Sibley/Action Images/Reuters]