The 13th Women’s Super League (WSL) season has begun and it’s one that has been positioned as the final page in this chapter of women’s football in England.
Once the league medals are handed out on May 18, 2024, everything changes. Or at least, that’s the plan. Because, once this season is over, the top two tiers of the women’s game will no longer be run by the Football Association (FA), which has overseen the WSL since 2010 and the Championship since its introduction in 2014.
This is also the final season of the WSL’s broadcast deal with Sky Sports and the BBC signed in 2021, worth between £7million-£8m ($8.5m-$9.7m) per season.
Add to that the ‘Raising the Bar’ report led by former England and Chelsea midfielder Karen Carney, released in July, which made 10 key recommendations for the future of the women’s game in England, the departure of the FA’s director of the women’s professional game Kelly Simmons at the end of September and the recent news that Baroness Sue Campbell will be retiring from her role as FA director of women’s football in 2024, and you start to see a lot of potholes appearing in the future pathway of the women’s game.
Simmons at the WSL season launch in 2016 (Getty Images)
A lot of questions too. How will these…
