The Women’s Super League Expands

The Women’s Super League (WSL) will expand at the start of the 2026-27 season from 12 to 14 teams. This change was made to increase the size of the WSL, and could possibly bring on some new changes.

The Women’s Super League is a tournament style competition that will comprise 14 of soccer teams. Each team will play the other 13 teams twice, once home and once away. This means there will be a total of 26 matches per team. The teams will be split into two tiers, the WSL and the WSL 2. The WSL is more prestigious than the WSL 2.

The expansion of the WSL will begin at the end of the 2025-26 season. Usually, the team at the bottom of the WSL is demoted to the WSL 2 and the top two teams of the WSL 2 will be promoted to the WSL.

This time, at the end of the 2025-26 season, the top two teams in the WSL 2 will be promoted, as usual. Then the third ranked team of the WSL 2 will play the bottom ranked team of the WSL, with the winner being promoted to the WSL.

After the 2026-27 season finishes, the bottom ranked WSL team will be demoted to the WSL 2, and the team in first place of the WSL 2 will be promoted to the WSL, basically meaning the two teams will swap spots. Then there will be a match between the second to bottom team of the WSL and the second place team in the WSL 2, with the winner claiming the spot in the WSL.

However, these changes still need to be approved by the Football Association (FA), which is in charge of the WSL, in order for the changes to take effect.

These changes are planned to affect the 2025-26 season and the 2026-27 season. The expansion of the WSL from 12 to 14 teams will be a significant change.

Sources:

“More teams will be joining the WSL,” BBC News, Tuesday June 17, 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c5yl5272z6yo