2025–26 Women's Super League 2

The 2025–26 Women's Super League 2 will be the first season of the Women's Super League 2 since it was reverted to the WSL2 name, and the 11th since the creation of the WSL 2 in 2014. The season will begin on 5 September 2025 and will end on 3 May 2026.^[1][2]

Women's Super League 2

Season	2025–26
Dates	5 September 2025 – 3 May 2026[1][2]
← 2024–25 2026–27 →

On 16 June 2025 it was announced that the Women's Super League would be expanding to 14 teams for the 2026–27 season. Because of this, the 2025–26 WSL 2 season will have two promotions and a promotion/relegation play-off for the 3rd placed team.^[3]

Teams

Birmingham City

Bristol City

Charlton Athletic

Crystal Palace

Durham

Ipswich Town

Newcastle United

Nottingham Forest

Portsmouth

Sheffield United

Southampton

Sunderland

Location of clubs for the 2025–26 season

Twelve teams were set to compete in the WSL2 for the 2025–26 season, an increase of one from the previous season,^[4] however this number was reduced back to eleven prior to the season commencing.

London City Lionesses were promoted to the Women's Super League as 2024–25 Women's Championship winners.^[5] They are replaced by Crystal Palace who returned to the division following relegation from the Women's Super League after one season.^[6]

Nottingham Forest, winners of the 2024–25 FA Women's National League North,^[7] and Ipswich Town, winners of the 2024–25 FA Women's National League South were both promoted.^[8] Both clubs are making their WSL2 debuts.

On 20 May 2025, it was announced Blackburn Rovers had withdrawn from the WSL2 due to the club owner's unwillingness to meet league requirements on facilities, player welfare and staffing.^[9][10] They will re-enter at the fourth tier (Division One North). Sheffield United who were set to be relegated to the FA Women's National League after spending seven seasons in the Championship were reprieved from relegation.^[11]

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	Manager
Birmingham City	Birmingham (Bordesley)	St Andrew's	29,902	Amy Merricks
Bristol City	Bristol (Ashton Gate)	Ashton Gate	27,000	Charlotte Healy
Charlton Athletic	London (Charlton)	The Valley	27,111	Karen Hills
Crystal Palace	London (Sutton)	Gander Green Lane	5,013	Jo Potter
Durham	Durham	Maiden Castle	1,800 (League) 2,400 (Cup)	Adam Furness
Ipswich Town	Colchester	Colchester Community Stadium	10,105	Joe Sheehan
Newcastle United	Gateshead	Gateshead International Stadium	11,800	Becky Langley
Nottingham Forest	Nottingham (West Bridgford)	The City Ground	30,404	Carly Davies
Portsmouth	Havant	Westleigh Park	5,300	Jay Sadler
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,050	Ash Thompson
Southampton	Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,384	Simon Parker
Sunderland	Hetton-le-Hole	Eppleton CW	2,500	Melanie Reay

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Crystal Palace	Leif Gunnar Smerud	Mutual agreement	11 May 2025[12]	Pre season	Jo Potter	24 June 2025[13]
Bristol City	Stephen Kirby	Mutual agreement	13 May 2025[14]		Charlotte Healy	24 June 2025[15]
Southampton	Marieanne Spacey-Cale (interim)	End of interim period	4 May 2025		Simon Parker	4 July 2025[16]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Birmingham City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Promotion to the WSL[a]
2	Bristol City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Charlton Athletic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Qualification for promotion/relegation play-off
4	Crystal Palace	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Durham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Ipswich Town	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Newcastle United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Nottingham Forest	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Portsmouth	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Sheffield United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Southampton	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Relegation to the Women's National League North or South
12	Sunderland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: 5 September 2025. Source: Women's Championship League Table
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
Notes:

1. Dependent on obtaining a licence.

Matches

Home \ Away	BIR	BRI	CHA	CRY	DUR	IPS	NEW	NOT	POR	SHU	SOU	SUN
Birmingham City		7 Sep	2 Nov	15 Feb	21 Dec	26 Apr	21 Sep	1 Feb	16 Nov	22 Mar	5 Oct	5 Apr
Bristol City	29 Mar		22 Mar	21 Dec	5 Oct	9 Nov	26 Apr	27 Sep	14 Sep	7 Dec	15 Feb	30 Jan
Charlton Athletic	3 May	16 Nov		7 Sep	15 Feb	21 Sep	25 Jan	21 Dec	4 Apr	12 Oct	9 Nov	15 Mar
Crystal Palace	7 Dec	8 Feb	29 Mar		25 Jan	5 Apr	5 Oct	15 Mar	3 May	9 Nov	14 Sep	12 Oct
Durham	8 Feb	5 Apr	14 Sep	28 Sep		7 Dec	9 Nov	12 Oct	1 Feb	26 Apr	22 Mar	11 Jan
Ipswich Town	12 Oct	25 Jan	11 Jan	16 Nov	15 Mar		2 Nov	14 Sep	28 Sep	15 Feb	29 Mar	3 May
Newcastle United	11 Jan	12 Oct	28 Sep	22 Mar	3 May	1 Feb		5 Apr	15 Feb	14 Sep	7 Dec	16 Nov
Nottingham Forest	9 Nov	11 Jan	8 Feb	21 Sep	29 Mar	22 Mar	7 Sep		5 Oct	25 Jan	3 May	7 Dec
Portsmouth	25 Jan	15 Mar	7 Dec	2 Nov	7 Sep	8 Feb	21 Dec	26 Apr		21 Sep	12 Oct	22 Mar
Sheffield United	27 Sep	3 May	1 Feb	11 Jan	2 Nov	5 Oct	14 Mar	16 Nov	28 Mar		21 Dec	5 Sep
Southampton	15 Mar	21 Sep	26 Apr	1 Feb	16 Nov	6 Sep	8 Feb	2 Nov	11 Jan	4 Apr		28 Sep
Sunderland	14 Sep	2 Nov	5 Oct	26 Apr	21 Sep	21 Dec	29 Mar	15 Feb	9 Nov	6 Feb	25 Jan

First match(es) will be played: 5 September 2025. Source: Women's Championship Results and Fixtures
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Awards