# Women's Championship

The Women's Championship, also known as Barclays Women's Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2) and renamed the FA Women's Championship prior to the 2018–19 season. "The FA" was subsequently dropped from the league name ahead of the 2022–23 season, prior to new ownership for the 2024–25 season by clubs in the first and second tiers.
WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 division, the FA Women's Premier League (WPL) National Division, which ended after the 2012–13 season. The WPL's last national division champions, Sunderland A.F.C. Women, were not promoted and also became the first winners of WSL 2 in the 2014 season. In addition to Sunderland, other WPL clubs that joined WSL 2 in 2014 were Watford and Aston Villa. From 2014 to 2016, WSL 2 ran a summer-based season calendar before reverting to the winter season in 2017–18, the same as WSL 1. Having sponsored the first tier since the 2019–20 season, 2022–23 marked the first season of Barclays as the title partner of the division.
For the 2023–24 season, changes were made so that two clubs would be relegated from the league allowing one team each from National League North and South to be promoted to the Championship rather than having to play a season end playoff. This change resulted in two teams being relegated from the Championship at the end of the season. No changes were made to promotion from the league to the WSL with still only one promotion and one relegation respectively. For the 2024–25 season, the league was reduced to eleven teams, due to Reading’s withdrawal from the Championship, citing financial issues. The FA confirmed two relegation spots would reduce to one. The league will return to a twelve team league at the beginning of the 2025/26 season.

## 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 in 2014. Doncaster Rovers Belles were relegated to 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 would be promoted from WSL 2, while one team would be relegated to WSL 2. Also, for the first time, a team would earn promotion to WSL 2 from the Women's Premier League (now National League), 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 had to show they would attract an average of 350 spectators in 2016, increasing to at least 400 in 2017.
FA WSL 2 was renamed the Women's Championship prior to the 2018–19 season.
In May 2020 the Championship season was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022 the league was renamed to simply the Women's Championship, with the FA part being dropped.
In November 2023, it was announced that all 24 Women's Super League and Women's Championship clubs had unanimously agreed to form a new organisation to run the women's professional game in England, taking over from the FA. The organization is called NewCo, and Nikki Doucet has been named CEO. From the 2024–25 season, the company was known as the Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL).
On 13 October 2024, Sunderland A.F.C. Women and Newcastle United W.F.C. set a new attendance record of 15,387 for the Women's Championship in their first meeting in the league, a Wear–Tyne derby match played at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. The previous record had been an attendance of 11,137, set in 2022.

## Clubs

The following eleven clubs are competing in the 2024–25 season.

## Winners

    Unless noted, only teams in first were promoted to the WSL.
| Year | Winner | Runners-up | Third | Top scorers | Goals |
| 2014 | Sunderland | Doncaster Rovers Belles | 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 |
| Spring Series | Everton | Doncaster Rovers Belles | Millwall Lionesses | Courtney Sweetman-Kirk (Doncaster Rovers Belles) | 9 |
| 2017–18 | Doncaster Rovers Belles | Brighton & Hove Albion | Millwall Lionesses | Jessica Sigsworth (Doncaster Rovers Belles) | 15 |
| 2018–19 | Manchester United | Tottenham Hotspur | Charlton Athletic | Jessica Sigsworth (Manchester United) | 17 |
| 2019–20 | Aston Villa | Sheffield United | Durham | Katie Wilkinson (Sheffield United) | 15 |
| 2020–21 | Leicester City | Durham | Liverpool | Katie Wilkinson (Sheffield United) | 19 |
| 2021–22 | Liverpool | London City Lionesses | Bristol City | Abi Harrison (Bristol City) | 17 |
| 2022–23 | Bristol City | Birmingham City | London City Lionesses | Melissa Johnson (Charlton Athletic) | 12 |
| 2023–24 | Crystal Palace | Charlton Athletic | Sunderland | Elise Hughes (Crystal Palace) | 16 |
Notes
    p.^ Second place team was also promoted
    r.^ Withdrew from league and relegated