The 2020–21 FA Women's Championship was the third season of the rebranded

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

, the second tier of women's football in England. It was renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. The season began on 5 September 2020. On 4 April 2021,

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

clinched the league title with a 2–0 win over

London City Lionesses London City Lionesses is a fully professional women's association football club based in Dartford, England. The team competes in the Women's Championship, the second tier of English women's football. The club was founded in May 2019, as an i ...

, their twelfth consecutive league victory dating back to 4–1 defeat at the hands of the same opposition on 1 November 2020. The result earned Leicester their first ever promotion to the top-flight

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. On the same day,

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

' defeat away at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

coupled with a win for

Coventry United Coventry United Football Club is an English association football club based in Coventry in the West Midlands. The team competes in the , the 9th tier of English football and are managed by Carl Nolan The club was founded in 2013 by chairman J ...

against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

sealed London Bees' relegation to the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. It marked the first time since the

2012–13 FA Women's Premier League The 2012-13 season of the FA Women's Premier League was the 21st season of the former top flight of English women's association football. National Division Northern Division Southern Division References full-time.thefa {{DEFAULTSORT:2 ...

a club had been relegated from the second-tier on sporting merit.

Teams

Twelve teams were originally scheduled to compete in the Championship for the 2020–21 season, an increase of one team from the previous season. This was a planned progression of the restructuring of the English women's game, a move prompted to provide for a fully professional

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

(WSL) starting with the 2018–19 season. Membership of both the first and second tier is subject to a license, based on a series of off-the-field criteria. However, while the movement between the WSL and Championship was honoured with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

earning promotion and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

taking their place, there was no relegation or promotion between the Championship and National League after the seasons from tier three and below were null and voided and results had been expunged. One team was scheduled to be relegated and replaced by the two winners of both the

North and South divisions. At the time the season was curtailed,

were declared bottom of the Championship on a points-per-game with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and Crawley Wasps leading the National League Premier Divisions prior to the cancellation. Without that movement between the second and third tiers, the season was again contested by eleven teams.

Managerial changes

Table

Results

Top goalscorers

Awards

Annual awards

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 FA Women's Championship Women's Championship (England) 2