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List of English women's football champions

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English footy champs

English Women's League (1st tier)
WFA National League Premier Division (1991–1994)
FA Women's Premier League National Division (1994–2010)
Women's Super League (2011–present)
Country
 England  Wales (some clubs)
Founded
1991
Number of teams
12 (2023–24 season)
Current champions
Chelsea (2023–24)
Most successful club
Arsenal (15 championships)

The English women's football champions are the winners of the highest national league in women's football in England. From 1991 this was the WFA National League/FA Women's Premier League, and since 2011 the Women's Super League.

First champions

Early 20th century

The Dick, Kerr Ladies in the U.S., 1922
See also: Women's football in England and English Ladies Football Association

The codification of professional men's football by the Football Association in 1885 and the Football League in 1888 did not coincide with similar measures for the women's teams who were playing in those years. Clubs such as the British Ladies' Football Club (founded in 1895) mainly competed in friendly matches and national tours with some success.

Women's football had a resurgence in popularity and attendances around the country during and after the First World War. During the 1920–21 season, the Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. toured Great Britain and won 58 matches out of 59 played, with one draw.

Stoke Ladies F.C. were the first known winners of a women's national knockout tournament in 1922, the English Ladies Football Association Challenge Cup, played under an effective ban on women's football by the FA. The renamed Dick, Kerr team, Preston Ladies, faced Edinburgh for a (British) cup 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.

Women's Football Association (WFA)

Women's FA Cup trophy
Main articles: Women's Football Association and Women's FA Cup

The WFA was founded in November 1969 as the Ladies Football Association of Great Britain, when the main women's football competitions were Regional Leagues. After the English Football Association reversed its 1921 ban on women's games at its grounds, the WFA Cup began in 1970–71, a national competition initially including many clubs outside of England. In the 1971 Final, Southampton Women's F.C. became the champions by beating Kilmarnock's Stewarton Thistle, who won the first Scottish Women's Cup in the same year.

Southampton were the leading English team of the era, WFA Cup-winners eight times between 1971 and 1981, and runners-up twice. Doncaster Belles won their first WFA Cup Final in 1983 and proceeded to reach almost every Final in the next decade; the 1990 Final was their fourth Cup victory, but Millwall Lionesses beat Doncaster in the Final in 1991.

At this time, the WFA received a grant from the Sports Council to create the Women's National League. This began in the 1991–92 season with eight teams in the Premier Division, and 16 teams in the Northern and Southern Divisions. The WFA Cup (Women's FA Cup) has continued alongside the leagues, and the Women's National League Cup also started in 1991–92. Since then, the top-level league has determined the annual champions of English women's football – this encompasses the division's renaming as the FA Women's Premier League (from 1994), qualification to the UEFA Women's Cup (from 2001), and the addition of the FA WSL (from 2011).

List of League champions

Note: Bold designates teams that won a double with the Women's FA Cup.
† Arsenal won a treble with the UEFA Women's Cup in 2007.

WFA National League Premier Division (1991–1994)

Main article: FA Women's Premier League National Division
Season Champions
(number of titles) 		Runners-up Third place Top scorers Goals
1991–92 Doncaster Belles Red Star Southampton Wimbledon England Karen Walker (Doncaster Belles) 36
1992–93 Arsenal Doncaster Belles Knowsley United
1993–94 Doncaster Belles (2) Arsenal Knowsley United

FA Women's Premier League National Division (1994–2010)

Season Champions
(number of titles) 		Runners-up Third place Top scorers Goals
1994–95 Arsenal (2) Liverpool Doncaster Belles
1995–96 Croydon Doncaster Belles Arsenal
1996–97 Arsenal (3) Doncaster Belles Croydon England Joanne Broadhurst (Arsenal) 21
1997–98 Everton Arsenal Doncaster Belles
1998–99 Croydon (2) Arsenal Doncaster Belles
1999–2000 Croydon (3) Doncaster Belles Arsenal
2000–01 Arsenal (4) Doncaster Belles Charlton Athletic
2001–02 Arsenal (5) Doncaster Belles Charlton Athletic
2002–03 Fulham Doncaster Belles Arsenal
2003–04 Arsenal (6) Charlton Athletic Fulham
2004–05 Arsenal (7) Charlton Athletic Everton England Trudy Williams (Bristol Rovers) 20
2005–06 Arsenal (8) Everton Charlton Athletic England Kelly Smith (Arsenal) 18
2006–07 Arsenal (9)† Everton Charlton Athletic England Lianne Sanderson (Arsenal) 29
2007–08 Arsenal (10) Everton Leeds United England Lianne Sanderson (Arsenal) 25
2008–09 Arsenal (11) Everton Chelsea England Kelly Smith (Arsenal) 25
2009–10 Arsenal (12) Everton Chelsea Scotland Kim Little (Arsenal) 17

Women's Super League (2011–present)

Main article: Women's Super League
Season Champions
(number of titles) 		Runners-up Third place Top scorers Goals
2011 Arsenal (13) Birmingham City Everton England Rachel Williams (Birmingham City) 14
2012 Arsenal (14) Birmingham City Everton Scotland Kim Little (Arsenal) 11
2013 Liverpool Bristol Academy Arsenal England Natasha Dowie (Liverpool) 13
2014 Liverpool (2) Chelsea Birmingham City England Karen Carney (Birmingham) 8
2015 Chelsea Manchester City Arsenal England Beth Mead (Sunderland) 12
2016 Manchester City Chelsea Arsenal England Eniola Aluko (Chelsea) 9
2017–18 Chelsea (2) Manchester City Arsenal England Ellen White (Birmingham City) 15
2018–19 Arsenal (15) Manchester City Chelsea Netherlands Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal) 22
2019–20 Chelsea (3) Manchester City Arsenal Netherlands Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal) 16
2020–21 Chelsea (4) Manchester City Arsenal Australia Sam Kerr (Chelsea) 21
2021–22 Chelsea (5) Arsenal Manchester City Australia Sam Kerr (Chelsea) 20
2022–23 Chelsea (6) Manchester United Arsenal England Rachel Daly (Aston Villa) 22
2023–24 Chelsea (7) Manchester City Arsenal Jamaica Khadija Shaw (Manchester City) 21

Total titles won

Since 1991, eight separate clubs have won an English women's national league championship. Four more clubs have been the national runners-up.

Note: Bold designates teams competing in 2023–24 Women's Super League season.
Club Winners Runners-
up 		Winning seasons Runner-up seasons
Arsenal 15 4 1992–93, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2001–02,
2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08,
2008–09, 2009–10, 2011, 2012, 2018–19 		1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2021–22
Chelsea 7 2 2015, 2017–18, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24 2014, 2016
Croydon/Charlton Athletic 3 2 1995–96, 1998–99, 1999–2000 2003–04, 2004–05
Doncaster Belles/Doncaster Rovers Belles 2 7 1991–92, 1993–94 1992–93, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97,
1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03
Liverpool 2 1 2013, 2014 1994–95
Everton 1 5 1997–98 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10
Manchester City 1 6 2016 2015, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2023–24
Fulham 1 0 2002–03
Birmingham City 0 2 2011, 2012
Red Star Southampton 0 1 1991–92
Bristol Academy/Bristol City 0 1 2013
Manchester United 0 1 2022–23

See also

Notes

  1. The 2017 FA WSL Spring Series is not an official championship.
  2. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the season ended early and the league was decided on a points per game basis.

References

  1. "History of the Football League". EFL. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007.
  2. "Lifting the lid on the hidden history of women's football". De Montfort University. 12 April 2013. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013.
  3. "The Lady Footballers: Struggling to Play in Victorian Britain". James Lee. Routledge. 2007. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014.
  4. "Ladies' Football Match". The Standard. London. 25 March 1895 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "The Honeyballers: Women who fought to play football". BBC News. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  6. "The History of Women's Football in England". England Football Association. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  7. "WOMEN FOOTBALLERS' FINE RECORD". Daily Mirror. London. 7 June 1921 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. Brennan, Patrick. "Stoke Ladies FC". Donmouth.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  9. "PRESTON WOMEN CONQUER SCOTTISH FOOTBALLERS". Lancashire Evening Post. 9 September 1937. p. 7.
  10. "Preston Sending Strong Team to Scotland". Lancashire Evening Post. 12 June 1939. p. 7.
  11. Harkness, Jack (18 June 1939). "Scots World Title Lead". Sunday Post. p. 27.
  12. "EDINBURGH LADIES' TEAM SUPREME". Daily Record. 8 July 1939. p. 31.
  13. ^ Garin, Erik; Di Maggio, Roberto. "England - List of Women Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
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