The Barclays Women’s Super League has today (Monday 16 June) released the following statement…
“At a WSL Football shareholders’ meeting today, subject to the approval of The FA Board, clubs voted to expand the Barclays Women’s Super League (BWSL) to 14 teams from the start of the 2026/27 season with a double round-robin format which includes automatic promotion and relegation alongside the addition of a promotion/relegation playoff to create distinction within the English women’s game.
“To expand the BWSL to14 teams for the start of 26/27 season, it was agreed that up to three teams would be promoted from the Barclays Women’s Super League 2 (BWSL2). The top two teams would be promoted automatically and there would be a playoff between the 12th placed BWSL team and the 3rd place BWSL2 team at the end of the 2025/26 season (which will need to be scheduled).
“BWSL2 will continue as a 12-team league with additional promotion opportunities from the FA Women’s National League (WNL) Northern and Southern Premier Divisions at the end of the 2025/26 season. These promotions will fill the additional vacancies created by the expansion of the BWSL. The method for these promotions, and any impact further down the pyramid, will be confirmed by The FA in due course.
“From the 26/27 season, it was agreed that the competition format for the BWSL would remain as a double round robin with the top three teams qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
“The 14th team in the BWSL would be automatically relegated and there would be an automatic promotion spot for the BWSL2 champions. In addition, there would be the introduction of a promotion/relegation playoff between the 13th placed BWSL team and the 2nd placed BWSL2 team to determine which club would either stay or be promoted.
“The decision to expand the BWSL to 14 teams, the method to do it, including any promotion mechanism for the WNL, promotion/relegation between the BWSL and BWSL2 for the 2026/27 season onwards are subject to the approval of The FA Board.”
 released the following statement concerning the league expansion.){kind=link}