The
FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally
WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
until
2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in
English women's football. During its final three seasons, the division operated as the second level of the league pyramid from
2010 to
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
. The division was played on a home and away basis, with each team playing each other twice, and points being awarded in the standard
football format.
Below the National Division were simultaneously the
Northern and
Southern divisions and the remainder of the women's football pyramid. The terms ''Women's Premiership'' and ''Ladies' Premiership'' thus generally referred to the National Division alone. The women's National League Premier Division was conceived as the counterpart to the men's football
First Division/
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
.
Founded in 1991 by the
Women's Football Association
The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...
, the league was taken over and renamed "Premier League" in the season
1994–95 by
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
. The first title was won by
Doncaster Belles in
1991–92. Arsenal hold the most championships, with 12 won between
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
and
2010.
The National Division lost its top-league status and several teams when the FA introduced the summer competition
Women's Super League (WSL) in 2011, with no further promotions.
2012–13
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
was the final season for the Women's Premier League National Division, with the last championship won by
Sunderland, their third in succession. The division was scrapped at the end of the 2012–13 season, prior to the launch of the
FA WSL 2
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 ...
(now the FA Women's Championship).
History
In its first two seasons, the women's National League operated on the pointscoring system of two points for a win, switching to
three points for a win
Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...
in
1993–94.
In the first season,
1991–92, the division contained eight clubs, increasing to 10 clubs in
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
.
Premiership teams also competed in the
WFA Cup/FA Women's Cup and the
Premier League Cup. The first five League champions all won the League and FA Cup
Double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
. From 2000 until 2008, the Premiership winner competed against the FA Cup winner or League runner-up annually for the
FA Women's Community Shield. Until 2010, Premiership winners and runners-up competed in the
UEFA Women's Cup/Women's Champions League as well.
For the
2006–07 season, the number of competing teams was increased from 10 to 12, with the promotion of the Northern (
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. Th ...
) and Southern (Cardiff City) champions and no relegations despite
test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
es being played.
For the National Division's 2010–11 season, the division was reduced to eight clubs from twelve. Six clubs left to form the WSL, as did the Northern Division champions and runners-up,
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 populat ...
and
OOH Lincoln. The six remaining National Division clubs and the Southern Division top two,
Barnet and
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
, thus comprised the second-level National Division.
List of seasons
As level 1 division:
:''Note: Bold designates teams that won a
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
with the
Women's FA Cup
The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship rea ...
.
†
Arsenal won a
treble with the
UEFA Women's Cup
The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA.
T ...
in 2007.''
As FA level 2 division:
The Women's Premier League name continued at level 3 in
2013–14 after the National Division was scrapped.
Performance by club
See also
*
Women's football (soccer)
Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...
*
List of women's football teams
This is a partial list of women's association football club teams from all over the world sorted by the confederation they reside in. Only teams playing at the highest level in each country are shown; for clubs playing at lower divisions, see the ...
*
List of women's football (soccer) competitions
This article lists all international competitions in women's football (soccer). The competitions included are for national teams as well as club sides. Competitions past and present are included. Note that some competitions may not be directly run ...
External links
The FA Women's PagefemaleSOCCER.net – Girls and women's football including Premier League
References
{{UEFA women's leagues
1
1
Eng
fr:Championnat d'Angleterre de football féminin