2020–21 Scottish Women's Premier League

The 2020–21 Scottish Women's Premier League was the 20th season of the SWPL, the highest division of women's football in Scotland since 2002. The league season was played in two divisions, SWPL 1 with eight teams and SWPL 2 with 10 teams. Glasgow City were the defending champions, having won the last completed championship in 2019. The league was known as the Scottish Building Society Scottish Women's Premier League for sponsorship reasons.

The previous season, 2020, was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and was subsequently declared null and void. Following this cancellation, Scottish Women's Football reverted to the winter-season format last used in 2008–09. The new season started on 18 October 2020 and concluded on 4 July 2021. It had been agreed that there would be no relegation from SWPL 1, and that there would be 10 teams in the top division in 2021–22. The 2020–21 season was interrupted for more than three months by the pandemic; SWPL 1 played no games between January and March.

Glasgow City won the championship by three points from Celtic, the runners-up. This was Glasgow City's 14th national league title in succession, the most in Scottish senior football history, and five fewer than the world record in women's football at the time, 19, by SFK.

Aberdeen won the SWPL 2 title, and won promotion alongside the runners-up, Hamilton Academical. Partick Thistle were later added as a third promoted club, after Forfar Farmington withdrew from the SWPL.

Teams

Spartans class=notpageimage| Locations of teams in the 2020–21 SWPL 1

Glasgow

Stirling UniversityGlasgow teams
Glasgow Women
Partick Thistle
Queen's Park class=notpageimage| Locations of teams in the 2020–21 SWPL 2

SWPL 1

Team	Location	Head coach	Home ground	Capacity	2019 position
Celtic	East Kilbride	Fran Alonso	K-Park Training Academy	1,000	3rd
Forfar Farmington	Forfar	Ryan McConville	Station Park	6,777	7th
Glasgow City	Cumbernauld	Scott Booth	Broadwood Stadium	8,086	1st
Heart of Midlothian	Edinburgh	Andy Kirk	Oriam	1,000	1st in SWPL 2
Hibernian	Edinburgh	Dean Gibson	Ainslie Park	3,000	2nd
Motherwell	Airdrie	Eddie Wolecki Black	Excelsior Stadium	10,101	6th
Rangers	Milngavie	Malky Thomson	Rangers Training Centre	500	4th
Spartans	Edinburgh	Debbi McCulloch	Ainslie Park	3,000	5th

Source:

SWPL 2

Team	Location	Head coach	Home ground	Capacity	2019 position
Aberdeen	Aberdeen	Emma Hunter Stuart Bathgate	Cormack Park		1st in SWFL 1 North
Boroughmuir Thistle	Edinburgh	Suzy Shepherd	Meggetland Sports Complex	1,000	5th in SWFL 1 South
Dundee United	Dundee	Gavin Beith	Regional Performance Centre		3rd
Glasgow Women	Glasgow	Craig Joyce	New Tinto Park		6th
Hamilton Academical	Hamilton	Gary Doctor	New Douglas Park	6,018	2nd
Kilmarnock	Kilmarnock	Andy Gardner	Rugby Park	17,889	4th
Partick Thistle	Glasgow	Brian Graham	Lochinch		5th
Queen's Park	Glasgow	Mark Kirk	Lesser Hampden	1,000	4th in SWFL 1 South
St Johnstone	Perth	Jason McCrindle	McDiarmid Park	10,696	7th
Stirling University	Stirling	Craig Beveridge	Gannochy Sports Centre	1,000	8th in SWPL 1

Source:

SWPL 1

Football league season

Scottish Women's Premier League 1
Season	2020–21
Champions	Glasgow City
Champions League	Glasgow City Celtic
Matches played	84
Goals scored	344 (4.1 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lizzie Arnot (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Rangers 11–0 Forfar Farmington (25 April 2021)
Biggest away win	Heart of Midlothian 0–10 Celtic (1 November 2020)
Highest scoring	Rangers 11–0 Forfar Farmington (25 April 2021)
Longest winning run	Seven games: Glasgow City
Longest unbeaten run	14 games: Glasgow City
Longest winless run	11 games: Forfar Farmington
Longest losing run	10 games: Forfar Farmington
← 2020 2021–22 →

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Glasgow City (C)	21	18	2	1	77	16	+61	56	Qualification for the Champions League first round
2	Celtic	21	17	2	2	76	12	+64	53	Qualification for the Champions League first round
3	Rangers	21	16	0	5	76	10	+66	48
4	Hibernian	21	9	2	10	42	27	+15	29
5	Spartans	21	9	2	10	29	42	−13	29
6	Motherwell	21	4	0	17	18	78	−60	12
7	Forfar Farmington	21	3	2	16	17	90	−73	11	Withdrew from SWPL after season
8	Heart of Midlothian	21	2	2	17	9	69	−60	8

Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Positions by round

	Champions and UEFA Champions League first round
	UEFA Champions League first round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
Glasgow City	3	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Celtic	7	4	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	2
Rangers	1	3	2	3	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	3	3	3	3
Hibernian	4	2	4	4	4	5	4	6	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	5	5	5	4
Spartans	5	6	6	6	5	6	5	4	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	4	4	4	5
Motherwell	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6
Forfar Farmington	2	5	5	5	6	4	6	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7
Heart of Midlothian	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Source:

Results

Matches 1 to 14

Home \ Away	CEL	FOR	GLA	HOM	HIB	MOT	RAN	SPA
Celtic		2–2	0–3	3–0	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–0
Forfar Farmington	0–8		0–7	3–0	0–5	4–2	1–3	1–2
Glasgow City	2–0	8–1		5–0	3–2	8–0	0–5	3–1
Heart of Midlothian	0–10	1–1	0–4		1–0	0–3	0–6	1–2
Hibernian	2–6	3–0	1–2	6–0		3–2	0–1	2–1
Motherwell	0–5	2–3	0–3	2–1	0–6		0–6	0–2
Rangers	0–1	11–0	0–2	5–1	1–0	9–0		5–0
Spartans	1–5	1–0	1–3	3–0	2–0	3–1	0–1

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 15 to 21

Home \ Away	CEL	FOR	GLA	HOM	HIB	MOT	RAN	SPA
Celtic		10–0	0–0					4–0
Forfar Farmington				1–2		0–1	0–4
Glasgow City		8–0		4–1	0–0		2–0
Heart of Midlothian	0–3				0–2	0–1		1–1
Hibernian	0–1	7–0					0–3	1–1
Motherwell	0–8		2–4		0–1			2–3
Rangers	1–2			4–0		6–0
Spartans		3–0	2–6				0–5

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

SWPL 2

Football league season

Scottish Women's Premier League 2
Season	2020–21
Matches played	92
Goals scored	350 (3.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bayley Hutchison (5 goals)
Biggest home win	Hamilton Academical 8–0 Stirling University (29 November 2020)
Biggest away win	Boroughmuir Thistle 0–9 Aberdeen (25 October 2020)
Highest scoring	Boroughmuir Thistle 0–9 Aberdeen (25 October 2020) Aberdeen 8–1 St Johnstone (10 November 2020)
Longest winning run	Six games: Aberdeen
Longest unbeaten run	Six games: Aberdeen Dundee United
Longest winless run	11 games: Stirling University
Longest losing run	Six games: Stirling University
← 2020 2021–22 → All statistics correct as of 9 June 2021.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Aberdeen	18	16	0	2	76	18	+58	48	Promotion to SWPL 1
2	Hamilton Academical	18	12	2	4	49	17	+32	38	Promotion to SWPL 1
3	Partick Thistle	18	11	2	5	46	22	+24	35	Later promoted to SWPL 1
4	Dundee United	18	10	4	4	44	30	+14	34
5	St Johnstone	18	8	1	9	33	37	−4	25
6	Glasgow Women	18	6	2	10	24	37	−13	20
7	Queen's Park	18	4	2	12	18	47	−29	14
8	Kilmarnock	18	7	1	10	19	34	−15	22
9	Boroughmuir Thistle	18	4	3	11	24	44	−20	15
10	Stirling University	18	2	3	13	17	64	−47	9	To SWPL play-offs (cancelled)

Updated to match(es) played on 9 June 2021. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored

Positions by round

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (March 2022)

	Promotion to 2021–22 SWPL 1
	Qualification for the play-offs

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Aberdeen	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Hamilton Academical	3	2	2	2	2	3	5	4	3	3	2	2
Partick Thistle	2	3	5	7	5	4	2	2	4	4	3	3
Dundee United	7	7	6	6	8	6	4	3	2	2	4	4
St Johnstone	6	5	4	4	4	7	8	7	7	5	5	5
Glasgow Women	1	4	3	3	6	5	6	6	6	7	6	6
Queen's Park	9	6	8	8	3	2	3	5	5	6	7	7
Kilmarnock	5	8	7	5	7	8	7	8	8	9	8	8
Boroughmuir Thistle	8	10	10	10	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	9
Stirling University	10	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10

Source:

Results

Home \ Away	ABE	BOR	DUN	GLW	HAM	KIL	PAR	QPA	STJ	STI
Aberdeen			4–3			3–0		5–1	8–1	7–0
Boroughmuir Thistle	0–9		1–2			0–1	1–0	1–3	3–2
Dundee United		4–1		2–2	2–1	2–2				3–1
Glasgow Women	0–1	3–1			0–2		1–4			4–0
Hamilton Academical	0–1	3–1		1–2				5–0		8–0
Kilmarnock	0–5	3–1	0–4	1–0	0–3		1–2			2–1
Partick Thistle	5–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	1–3				2–3
Queen's Park	0–3		3–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	0–3		0–3
St Johnstone			0–1	1–3	2–2	3–0	1–3	3–0
Stirling University	0–6	0–2	1–5	3–3	2–4		1–4		1–2

Updated to match(es) played on 9 June 2021. Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

Scottish Women's Football awarded Hamilton Academical a technical 3–0 victory after Kilmarnock fielded an ineligible player in their match on 25 October 2020. The match had originally finished 1–0 to Hamilton Academical.

Statistics

Scoring

SWPL 1

As of 10 June 2021

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lizzie Arnot	Rangers	16
2	Sarah Ewens	Celtic	14
3	Zoe Ness	Rangers	12
4	Kirsty Howat	Glasgow City Rangers	11
5	Aoife Colvill	Glasgow City	9
5	Donna Paterson	Forfar Farmington	9
7	Chloe Craig	Celtic	8
7	Priscila Chinchilla	Glasgow City	8
9	Ode Fulutudilu	Glasgow City	7
9	Becky Galbraith	Spartans	7

Source:

SWPL 2

As of 17 November 2020

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bayley Hutchison	Aberdeen	9
2	Francesca Ogilvie	Aberdeen	4
	Eva Thomson	Aberdeen
	Robyn Smith	Dundee United
5	6 players		3

Source:

Hat-tricks

SWPL 1

No.	Player	For	Against	Date	Score
1	Zoe Ness	Rangers	Heart of Midlothian	18 October 2020	5–1
2	Kirsty Howat	Glasgow City	Forfar Farmington	1 November 2020	8–1
3	Donna Paterson	Forfar Farmington	Heart of Midlothian	8 November 2020	3–0

SWPL 2

No.	Player	For	Against	Date	Score	Ref
1	Bayley Hutchison	Aberdeen	Boroughmuir Thistle	25 October 2020	9–0

References

"New Senior Structure for 2020 and beyond". Scottish Women's Premier League. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
"League start date announced with enhanced broadcast deal". Scottish Women's Football. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
Lewis, Jane (29 July 2020). "SWPL season declared null and void after one round of games". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
Schöggl, Hans. "Scotland (Women) - List of Champions". RSSSF.
"SWPL: No relegation this season with top flight to expand to 10 teams". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
"Scottish Leagues 1 & 2 and SWPL 1 can train again but must test for games". BBC Sport. 3 March 2021.
"Rangers and Glasgow City extend lead on bad afternoon for Celtic, Hearts and Hibs as SWPL1 resumes after shutdown". Scotsman. 4 Apr 2021. Archived from the original on 4 Apr 2021.
"SWPL 2 fixtures confirmed for the remainder of the 2020/21 season". SWPL. 6 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021.
"Glasgow City see off Rangers and Celtic SWFL title challenge to make it 14 in a row". Daily Record. 6 June 2021. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021.
Schöggl, Hans. "Bosnia-Hercegovina (Women) List of Champions". RSSSF.
"Most consecutive titles (female)". Guinness World Records.
"#SBSSWPL 2: Aberdeen 4-2 Boroughmuir Thistle". SWPL. 5 July 2021. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021.
"#SBSSWPL 2: Hamilton Academical 3-0 Kilmarnock". SWPL. 5 July 2021. Archived from the original on 5 July 2021.
^ "Forfar Farmington a sorry casualty of the professional era". The Herald. 15 August 2021. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021.
^ "Scottish Women's Premier League". Scottish Women's Premier League. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
^ "Summary – SWPL1". Soccerway. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
^ "Summary – SWPL2". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
"SWF Statement – Kilmarnock v Hamilton Academical". Scottish Women's Premier League. 4 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
"Rangers 5–1 Hearts". Scottish Women's Premier League. 18 October 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
"Glasgow City 8–1 Forfar Farmington". Scottish Women's Premier League. 1 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
"Forfar Farmington 3–0 Hearts". Scottish Women's Premier League. 8 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
"Boroughmuir Thistle 0–9 Aberdeen". Scottish Women's Premier League. 25 October 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.

External links

Official website Archived 2022-09-20 at the Wayback Machine

Scottish Women's Premier League

2024–25 teams

SWPL 1	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Glasgow City Heart of Midlothian Hibernian Montrose Motherwell Partick Thistle Queen's Park Rangers Spartans
SWPL 2	Ayr United Boroughmuir Thistle Gartcairn Women Hamilton Academical Kilmarnock Livingston Rossvale St Johnstone

Seasons

SWPL 1	2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
SWPL 2	2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

Cup competitions

Scottish Women's Premier League Cup

v t e 2020–21 in Scottish football
« 2019–20 2021–22 »
Domestic leagues	SPFL Premiership Championship League One League Two Highland Lowland East of Scotland South of Scotland West of Scotland North Caledonian SJFA East Premiership ~~SJFA North Superleague~~ ~~SPFL Reserve League~~ Women's Premier League '20 '20–2021 Women's Championship '20 '20–21
Domestic cups	Scottish Cup Final League Cup Group stage Final ~~Challenge Cup~~ South Region Challenge Cup ~~Junior Cup~~ ~~Youth Cup~~ Women's Cup ~~'20 '21~~ Women's Premier League Cup '20 ~~'21 (spring)~~
European competitions	Champions League Europa League Youth League
Related to national team	Results Men's Women's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA) 2020–21 UEFA Nations League UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualifying
Transfers	Summer 2020 Winter 2020–21
Club seasons
Premiership	Aberdeen Celtic Dundee United Hamilton Academical Hibernian Kilmarnock Livingston Motherwell Rangers Ross County St Johnstone St Mirren
Championship	Alloa Athletic Arbroath Ayr United Dundee Dunfermline Athletic Greenock Morton Heart of Midlothian Inverness Caledonian Thistle Queen of the South Raith Rovers
League One	Airdrieonians Clyde Cove Rangers Dumbarton East Fife Falkirk Forfar Athletic Montrose Partick Thistle Peterhead

v t e 2020–21 in European women's football (UEFA)
Domestic leagues	Albania Belgium Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Faroe Islands '20 '21 Finland '20 '21 France Germany Gibraltar Hungary Iceland '20 '21 Italy Lithuania '20 '21 Moldova Netherlands Northern Ireland '20 '21 Norway '20 '21 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland '20 '21 Romania Russia '20 '21 Scotland '20 '20–21 Slovakia Spain Sweden '20 '21 Turkey Ukraine Wales
Domestic cups	Croatia England Germany Iceland '20 '21 Italy Moldova Norway '20 '21 Portugal Romania Spain Sweden Ukraine Wales
League cups	England Portugal Scotland '20
UEFA competitions	Women's Champions League qualifying rounds knockout phase Final
International competitions	UEFA Women's Euro 2022 qualification 2021 Women's Euro Under-19 qualification 2021 Women's Euro Under-17 qualification