As the start of the Women’s Super League (WSL) season is now upon us, there’s a lot of new changes on the horizon that fans will have to adjust to. Whether it’s new players, new managers, new ownership, new kits or new teams, the WSL is not standing still.
We recap the biggest changes coming to the WSL for 2024-25 before the league kicks off tomorrow night, when defending champions Chelsea take on Aston Villa.
The Eagles have landed
As one bird flies the nest another takes its place. Replacing the Robins (Bristol City) in the WSL are the Eagles (Crystal Palace), who earned promotion from the Women’s Championship last season.
The south London club won the Championship by one point after a nail-biting run-in that saw four teams in contention (Palace, Charlton, Sunderland and Southampton) almost down to the last day.
Their task of remaining in the WSL, however, will likely not prove any easier – as Bristol City experienced last season. The Robins barely managed to bob above the relegation zone before they were back in the Championship just one season on from promotion.
Palace manager, Laura Kaminski seems up to the challenge and has recruited well, making 14 signings over the summer. Notably 32-year-old forward Katie Stengel brings extensive experience in the WSL (Liverpool: 2022-23) and abroad, while loans for 19-year-old defender Brooke Aspin (from Bristol City), 21-year-old Jorja Fox (Chelsea) and 18-year-old forward Poppy Pritchard (from Manchester City) offer recognised talent.
Palace remain without their star striker, 23-year-old Elise Hughes, who scored 20 goals in 26 appearances last season, after she ruptured her ACL in the penultimate game of the season.
Doucet at the wheel
Perhaps the most significant change of them all. 2024-25 will mark the first season that the WSL and Women’s Championship are under the new ownership of the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL).
Announced on 15th August 2024, the WPLL (formerly known as NewCo) will assume responsibility for the two leagues from the FA. Each club competing in the WSL and Championship will be a shareholder.
Led by CEO Nikki Doucet, the WPLL has set out their aim as “building the most distinctive, competitive and entertaining women’s football club competition in the world”.
How exactly they will achieve this is yet to be seen but it could be the most important story to emerge from this season’s WSL.
FA Player: This stream has ended
When the WSL enters a period of nostalgia for the #Barclayswomen, the FA Player will be brought up with a wistful fondness for the buffering, log-on struggles and singular camera angles that accompanied its use.
The circling dots in the centre of your screen will become synonymous with Toni Duggan screamers and Fran Kirby skipping past the opposition before celebrating with arms aloft in Chelsea blue.
But as the FA cedes ownership to the WPLL, the FA Player is also consigned to history with games and highlights instead available on the far more user-friendly YouTube.
It’s a step into the present for women’s football and brings the added benefit of making the WSL and Championship far more accessible to the casual fan.
Fresh faces in the dugout
Chelsea have been left with big shoes to fill in the form of seven-time WSL winner Emma Hayes. They have gone a long way to finding a suitable successor, welcoming three-time Champions League-winning, former Lyon manager Sonia Bompastor to Kingsmeadow.
It is an accolade that always evaded her predecessor, but Bompastor has won the UWCL once as manager at Lyon, and twice as a player.
She is one of four fresh faces that will feature on WSL touchlines from the outset this season as Aston Villa, Leicester City and Brighton and Hove Albion also welcomed new managers this summer.
Robert de Pauw joins Villa from Dutch pro side FC Twente following the departure of another WSL stalwart in Carla Ward. Amandine Miquel heads to Leicester from Premier Ligue side Reims while Dario Vidosic joins Brighton from Melbourne City.
WSL Departees
Departures are not just confined to the manager’s office. The WSL will also have to acclimatise to the absence of stalwarts on the field too.
West Ham United, Manchester United and Manchester City have all bid adieu to their captains (Mackenzie Arnold, Katie Zelem and Steph Houghton respectively).
Houghton announced her retirement from football back in March while ever-present United captain Zelem and 30-year-old goalkeeper Arnold both moved to the NWSL.
United will also be without another key presence as Mary Earps departs to PSG leaving them two Lionesses lighter heading into 2024-25. Not only has Earps produced some tremendous stops for United, but her candid speeches and campaigning mean she might be most missed as a visible role model each weekend.
United’s Manchester rivals also saw a host of changes as the WSL will be without stalwart Demi Stokes, who moved to Newcastle United. Fellow Lionesses Esme Morgan and Ellie Roebuck have also left, joining Washington Spirit and Barcelona, respectively.
Welch waves goodbye
Departures do not just have to be associated to a club to be just as seismic. Rebecca Welch has blown full-time on her career in refereeing having become a well-known face in the WSL.
Alongside refereeing the WSL, Welch became the first woman to referee in the English Football League, the men’s FA Cup third round, the Sky Bet Championship and the Premier League.
She will now take up a senior role at the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), but will undoubtedly be missed in the WSL for her refereeing and lengthy debates with Arsenal’s Katie McCabe…