Source: REUTERS/Albert Gea
[Saba Sports News] Recently, the Football Association officially announced that following approval by the FA Board, clubs voted to expand the Barclays Women’s Super League (BWSL) to 14 teams starting from the 2026/27 season. The new format will adopt a double round-robin system and introduce automatic promotion/relegation along with playoff matches to enhance the competitiveness of English women’s football. To increase the BWSL to 14 teams by the 2026/27 season, the meeting agreed that up to three teams from the Barclays Women’s Super League 2 (BWSL2) may be promoted. The top two teams will automatically be promoted, while the 12th-placed team from the BWSL and the third-placed team from the BWSL2 will participate in a playoff after the 2025/26 season. BWSL2 will maintain its current size of 12 teams and will increase opportunities for promotion from the FA Women’s National League (WNL) Northern/Southern Premier Divisions in 2025/26. These promotion spots will fill the vacancies created by the expansion of the BWSL. Specific promotion methods and their impact on lower leagues will be confirmed by the FA in the future. Starting from the 2026/27 season, the BWSL will retain the double round-robin format, with the top three teams qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League. The 14th-placed team in the BWSL will automatically be relegated, while the champions of BWSL2 will directly be promoted.