Women's football in Scotland
Women's association football in Scotland has an organised history including the first international women's match in 1881, the president of the British Ladies' Football Club in 1895, Lady Florence Dixie, the Edinburgh–Preston "World Championship" in 1937 and 1939, and the Scottish Women's Cup competition founded in 1970. The sport is jointly overseen by Scottish Women's Football (originally SWFA), the Scottish Football Association, and Scottish Professional Football League. Faced with bans and restrictions from the 1920s to the 1970s by organisers of male football competitions, Scottish women's football has had  some international success and recently gained some professional clubs. As of 2022, the women's leagues consist of the Scottish Women's Premier League with two divisions, SWF Championship North and South at level three, the regional Scottish Women's Football League and the Highlands and Islands League. The Scottish Women's Cup was first played in 1970–71, won by Stewarton Thistle. The Cup is open to all senior teams affiliated to SWF. Clubs of specific leagues enter the SWPL Cup, SWF Championship Cup, SWFL League Cup and Plate, the Highlands and Islands League Cup, the 'Performance' youth league cups , and various youth cups at lower levels. The Scotland women's national team played its first official game in 1972, competed in the 1979 European championship and played its first game at Hampden Park in 2012. The team qualified for its first Women's World Cup in the 2019 tournament. Scotland's most famous female players include Rose Reilly, Julie Fleeting, Kim Little, and the most-capped player of the national team, Gemma Fay. The Scottish Women's Football League became the top national division in 1999, before the SWPL was formed in 2002. The team that wins the Premier  League title qualifies for the following season's UEFA Champions League, with the runners-up generally also qualifying depending on the nation's coefficient. League system. In 2016, the Premier League was reduced from 12 to 8 eight teams but expanded to a second level. In 2017, the SWFL 2 changed from 4 to 3 regions. In 2020, clubs in SWFL 1 became members of a new Championship and SWFL 2 became a separate system. The current (since 2020) pyramid is over 3 tiers: The pre-2020 third-tier regional divisions under the Scottish Women's Football League became a separate  'Recreational' setup no longer linked by merit to the 'Performance' levels above (although individual clubs can still apply to join the Championship). Until 2019, reserve and youth squads could compete in the senior pyramid as long as they were not in the same division as the titular club – this was then changed with the introduction of a 'National Performance League' structure for under-16 and under-19 leagues featuring age group teams of the top clubs. History. Church documents recorded women playing football in Carstairs, Lanarkshire, in 1628. A Scotland team played in the world's first recorded women's international match , in May 1881, at Hibernian Park in Edinburgh, a 3–0 win against England. The Scottish Football Association gives the date of the first match recorded under its official rules as 1892 (according to a 2005 article). However, the sport was traditionally seen as a working class and male preserve. Women's football struggled for recognition during this early period; after a period of growth during and after the First World War, including an Anglo-Scottish women's club game at Celtic Park in 1918, men's clubs who were interested in using their grounds for women's football were subsequently  denied permission by the Scottish Football Association (SFA) in 1924–25. Research has shown that teams such as Rutherglen Ladies played exhibition matches for charity in front of large crowds during the 1920s and '30s. The English women's football club team, Dick, Kerr Ladies, renamed Preston Ladies, faced Edinburgh for a British trophy named the Ladies' Football World Championship, on at least two occasions in the 1930s. Preston won in 1937 by a 5–1 score, but the trophy went to Scotland in 1939, when Edinburgh won the title, beating Preston 5–2 in an apparently longer club competition. The sport continued  on an unofficial basis until 1971, when UEFA instructed its members to take control of women's football within their territories. The motion was passed 31–1, but Scotland was the only member to vote against it. In 1971 the Scottish Women's Football Association (SFWA) was founded and six teams registered for competition: Aberdeen, Edinburgh Dynamos, Westthorn United, Motherwell AEI, Dundee Strikers and Stewarton Thistle. In 1972–73 Westthorn Utd won the first league title. With Scotland having played their first official international match and Scottish teams reaching the final of the English WFA Cup in 1972 and 1973, the SFA  lifted the ban and recognised the SWFA in August 1974. Since then the SWFA has been renamed Scottish Women's Football Ltd (SWF). The Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) formed in November 1999, and in 2002–03 the Premier Division broke away to form the Premier League (SWPL). Champions. The following clubs are known to have won the Scottish national championship: Scottish Women's Football League: SWFL Premier Division: Scottish Women's Premier League: Scottish Women's Cup. The Scottish Women's Cup is the primary national knockout cup competition, is owned and managed by SWF, and is open to  all senior teams affiliated with the SWF. The competition was first held in 1970–71 and has been held annually for 50 seasons. Senior national team. Scotland's first official match, a 3–2 defeat to England, took place in November 1972. The team was managed by Rab Stewart. The Scottish Women's Football Association was not recognised by the SFA until 1974. The SFA assumed direct responsibility for Scottish women's football in 1998. The Scottish government in 2013 promised to increase funding for the Women's national team. Scotland women's national football team qualified for their first major tournament  Euro 2017. 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup will the first time the Womens team have qualified for a world cup.