Supporters have voiced their anger and frustration at the Women’s Super League contemplating scrapping relegation.
The proposal is reportedly going to be discussed at a meeting with the Women’s Professional Leagues Ltd, the company in charge of the WSL and Women’s Championship, on Friday with representatives from every club in the top two flights present.
The idea behind the move would be to make the leagues more competitive and potentially use it to expand them.
Scrapping relegation: What have fans said?
The explosive news was revealed by the Guardian, who detail that bosses believe with the threat of relegation gone clubs would invest more into the teams and therefore make it more competitive.
Chelsea have won the last five WSL titles and are well on their way this season to win a sixth consecutive trophy.
They could also expand both leagues by allowing promotion to continue and with no relegation both leagues would add one club per season.
It is thought the move, if approved, would not start until the 2026/27 season. In FourFourTwo’s view scrapping relegation is not the way to increase investment, if anything it will reduce it.
The news has sent shockwaves through the sport and fans are not happy with the idea.
One wrote: “That WSL link incredibly concerning. I’m sorry but abolishing relegation is absolute nonsense that divorces the league from the entire history of English football culture.”
Another added: “Removing relegation from the wsl would end up destroying everything that makes it special. the fact that it’s even being considered disgusts me man.”
And a third said: “Relegation & promotion puts pressure on clubs to continue investing in their women’s side. removing it takes away investment towards the women’s side bc no matter what happens you’re still in the same league, it would stunt the growth of women’s game in England.”
Players have not yet commented on the story but they may be concerned if the WSL is to expand as it will add more fixtures to their already packed schedule.
Stars have previously said more games may lead to more injuries, particularly ACLs which are rife in the women’s game.
The balance of managing a players load would be a bigger issue if more games were introduced.
Manchester City’s Vivianne Miedema spoke about not wanting more games in the schedule back in 2023 when she and partner Beth Mead were both sidelined with ACLs.
She told CNN at the time: “The biggest reason [for the injury] for me, and for Beth as well, is the increase in minutes.
“If you look at the calendar we’ve got, we used to play 30/35 games a season and now we’ve got 60.
“That is difficult for a player. Especially if you don’t have better facilities around you or a better medical team or more medical staff. That’s something that all clubs should improve right now.”
A potential fix for this if the WSL is to be expanded is wider squads to enable more rotation.
Injury, squad sizes and rotation are all factors to be considered with the expansion.
It is not yet clear when a decision will be made on the proposal but it is unlikely to be made at the initial meeting this week.
