# 2021–22 FA Women's Championship

The 2021–22 FA Women's Championship was the fourth season of the rebranded FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England. It was renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014.
On 3 April 2022, Liverpool clinched the league title with a 4–2 win over Bristol City, their 19th consecutive league match unbeaten dating back to a 1–0 defeat at the hands of London City Lionesses on 29 August 2021, the opening game of the season. The result earned Liverpool promotion to the top-flight FA WSL after a two season absence.
On 1 May 2022, the final day of the season, Watford were relegated to the FA Women's National League after only one season in the Championship following a 1–0 defeat at home to relegation rivals Coventry United. Watford started the day two points ahead of Coventry knowing a draw would secure their Championship status. Coventry had not been off the bottom of the table since they were handed a 10 point deduction on 6 January 2022. A 90+7 minute free kick from Mollie Green was the only goal of the game at Vicarage Road as Coventry United finished the season on an eight-game unbeaten streak to remain in the second tier.

## Teams

Twelve teams competed in the Championship for the 2021–22 season, an increase of one team from the previous season. This was a planned progression of the restructuring of the English women's game, a move prompted to provide for a fully professional Women's Super League (WSL) starting with the 2018–19 season. The expansion was originally scheduled from the 2019–20 season but the demotion of Yeovil Town directly from the WSL to the third-tier in 2019 and then the season's curtailment the following year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic had twice delayed this.
Movement between the WSL and Championship was granted on purely sporting merit as both the 2020–21 FA WSL and Championship seasons were completed in full. Leicester City earned promotion and their place was taken by Bristol City who were relegated after finishing bottom of the WSL. London Bees finished bottom of the 2020–21 Championship and were relegated to the National League. Upward movement from the National League was granted via application based on a set criteria including points-per-game over the previous two seasons in order to support the stability and integrity of the women's football pyramid after the previous two National League seasons had both been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, Sunderland were promoted from the National League North and Watford were promoted from the National League South.
On 24 December 2021, directors at Coventry United confirmed the club was going into voluntary liquidation. They had accelerated the team into becoming fully-professional prior to the start of the season. With a formal deadline set for 4 January 2022, investor Lewis Taylor made a bid to acquire the club and clear the debts to ensure the club could complete the season. The offer was accepted and the club was rescued although the FA handed down a 10 points deduction for triggering an insolvency event.
| Team | Location | Ground | Capacity | 2020–21 season |
| Blackburn Rovers | Bamber Bridge | Sir Tom Finney Stadium | 3,000 | 9th |
| Bristol City | Failand | Robins High Performance Centre | | WSL, 12th |
| Charlton Athletic | Bexley | The Oakwood | 1,180 | 8th |
| Coventry United | Coventry | Butts Park Arena | 4,000 | 10th |
| Crystal Palace | Bromley | Hayes Lane | 5,000 | 7th |
| Durham | Durham | Maiden Castle | 3,000 | 2nd |
| Liverpool | Birkenhead | Prenton Park | 16,547 | 3rd |
| Lewes | Lewes | The Dripping Pan | 3,000 | 5th |
| London City Lionesses | Dartford | Princes Park | 4,100 | 6th |
| Sheffield United | Chesterfield | Technique Stadium | 10,504 | 4th |
| Sunderland | Hetton-le-Hole | Eppleton CW | 2,500 | WNL North, N/A |
| Watford | Kings Langley | The Orbital Fasteners Stadium | 1,500 | WNL South, N/A |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| Bristol City | Matt Beard (interim) | End of interim period | 13 May 2021 | End of season (FA WSL, 12th) | Lauren Smith | 21 June 2021 |
| Liverpool | Amber Whiteley (interim) | End of interim period | 13 May 2021 | End of season (3rd) | Matt Beard | 13 May 2021 |
| Lewes | Simon Parker | Sacked | 12 October 2021 | 8th | Craig Gill (interim) | 13 October 2021 |
| Watford | Clinton Lancaster | Sacked | 31 December 2021 | 12th | Gifton Noel-Williams (interim) | 31 December 2021 |
* ↑ Smith was initially appointed as interim manager, but the move was made permanent on 6 October 2021.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Liverpool (C, P) | 22 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 49 | 11 | +38 | 52 | Promotion to the WSL |
| 2 | London City Lionesses | 22 | 13 | 2 | 7 | 35 | 22 | +13 | 41 | |
| 3 | Bristol City | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 43 | 28 | +15 | 37 | |
| 4 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 35 | 39 | −4 | 37 | |
| 5 | Charlton Athletic | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 27 | 18 | +9 | 34 | |
| 6 | Durham | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 30 | 28 | +2 | 34 | |
| 7 | Sheffield United | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 34 | 31 | +3 | 33 | |
| 8 | Lewes | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 23 | 24 | −1 | 29 | |
| 9 | Sunderland | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 32 | −9 | 24 | |
| 10 | Blackburn Rovers | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 41 | −24 | 17 | |
| 11 | Coventry United | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 18 | 32 | −14 | 12 | |
| 12 | Watford (R) | 22 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 18 | 46 | −28 | 11 | Relegation to the National League |
* ↑ Dependent on obtaining a licence.
* ↑ Coventry United were deducted 10 points on 6 January 2022 for triggering an insolvency event.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BLB | BRI | CHA | COV | CRY | DUR | LEW | LIV | LCL | SHU | SUN | WAT |
| Blackburn Rovers | — | 0–1 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| Bristol City | 3–0 | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| Charlton Athletic | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Coventry United | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Crystal Palace | 2–1 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Durham | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–3 | — | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Lewes | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Liverpool | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | — | 0–1 | 6–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| London City Lionesses | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Sheffield United | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–1 | — | 1–4 | 3–0 |
| Sunderland | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 |
| Watford | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–4 | 1–1 | — |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 1 May 2022
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Abi Harrison | Bristol City | 17 |
| 2 | Leanne Kiernan | Liverpool | 13 |
| 3 | Courtney Sweetman-Kirk | Sheffield United | 11 |
| 4 | Beth Hepple | Durham | 10 |
| 5 | Katie Stengel | Liverpool | 8 |
| 5 | Lucy Watson | Sheffield United | 8 |
| 7 | Amy Rodgers | London City Lionesses | 7 |
| 7 | Katie Wilkinson | Coventry United | 7 |
| 9 | Rio Hardy | Coventry United | 6 |
| 9 | Molly Sharpe | Crystal Palace | 6 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Golden boot | Abi Harrison | Bristol City |
| Golden glove | Rachael Laws | Liverpool |