The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in
women's football in Scotland
Women's association football in Scotland has an organised history including the first international women's match in 1881, the president of the British Ladies' Football Club in 1895, Lady Florence Dixie, the Edinburgh–Preston "World Championshi ...
. Its two divisions are SWPL (previously styled as ''SWPL 1'') and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the
Scottish Women's Football League
The Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) is a group of women's football divisions in Scotland. The league is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA).
Following on from ...
(SWFL) broke away to form the SWPL in
2002
The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
. SWPL 2 was introduced in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
.
The divisions contain (in the
2022–23 season) 12 clubs in SWPL and eight in SWPL 2.
Glasgow City have won 16 championships, including 14 in succession from
2007–08 until
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
.
The champions and runners-up qualify for the
UEFA Women's Champions League
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.
...
.
From 2002, the league was owned and managed by
Scottish Women's Football
Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scotti ...
. Administration of the SWPL was taken over by the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
in 2007,
then by the
Scottish Professional Football League
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...
in 2022.
The SWPL runs on the winter calendar but operated a summer-season format from
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
until
2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
.
History
2002–2009
From the
Scottish Women's Football Association
Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scotti ...
national and regional leagues dating from
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
, the SWFA and clubs formed the
Scottish Women's Football League
The Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) is a group of women's football divisions in Scotland. The league is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA).
Following on from ...
(SWFL) in 1999, with four national divisions. Its top division broke away to form the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) in 2002, with the aim of introducing a more professional attitude and increasing media interest. The twelve founder members of the SWPL were Ayr United, Cove Rangers, Dundee, Giulianos,
Glasgow City,
F.C. Hamilton,
Hibernian, Inver-Ross,
F.C. Kilmarnock, Lossiemouth, Raith Rovers and Shettleston.
In the
2002–03 season, Kilmarnock became the champions, after a title race with Hibernian.
Kilmarnock Ladies had formed from the 1971
Scottish Women's Cup
The Women's Scottish Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland.
First held in 1970–71 and known as the Scottish Women's FA Cup, the competition was owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an ...
-winners Stewarton Thistle,
and also won the 2001–02 SWFL, two Scottish Cups and four consecutive League Cups. Kilmarnock's success faded after the departure of manager
Jim Chapman and of Scotland internationals including
Shelley Kerr
Michelle Kerr (born 15 October 1969) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently the English Football Association's technical lead for women's national teams. As a player Kerr was a powerful centre back, who captained and ...
,
Joanne Love and Linda Brown.
Hibernian Ladies were the most successful club in the League's first five years. The title in 2003–04 went to Hibs, 14 points ahead of Glasgow City,
and Hibernian added further titles in
2005–06 and in
2006–07 (winning every game that season).
The Hibs squad included Scotland's
Pauline Hamill,
Kirsty McBride,
Suzanne Grant
Suzanne Winters (née Grant) (born 17 April 1984) is a former Scottish association football, footballer, who played as Forward (association football), striker. She made 105 appearances for the Scotland women's national football team, Scotland na ...
,
Joelle Murray
Joelle Louise Murray (born 7 November 1986) is a former Scottish international footballer who played as a defender for Hibernian of the Scottish Women's Premier League.
Career
Murray grew up in Chirnside, Scotland, and started her career pla ...
and
Kim Little
Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal of the English Women's Super League. Before her retirement from international ...
.
Glasgow City won the Scottish championship for the first time in 2004–05,
coached by
Peter Caulfield. The club's next title was in season
2007–08, beating Hibernian by five points, with
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
placing third in its first season.
In 2007, the running of the League was taken over by the
Scottish Football Association
The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...
while
the SWFA, renamed SWF, thereafter operated as part of the SFA.
2009–2019
The women's leagues' move from a winter to a summer schedule (March–November), from
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
, saw a rise in attendances in its first seasons, and far fewer match postponements.

In the 11-year era of the summer schedule in Scottish women's football, Glasgow City won every title and became one of the most dominant clubs in any national league in world football. Between the
2007–08 and
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
seasons, City lost only four matches in the League (including one match awarded against them retrospectively for an ineligible player); their squads included
Jane Ross,
Denise O'Sullivan
Denise Rebecca O'Sullivan (born 4 February 1994) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club North Carolina Courage, which she captains, and the Republic of ...
(each a winner of the
SWPL Players' Player of the Year), and
Leanne Ross
Leanne Ross (born 8 July 1981) is a Scottish former football player and current coach who is in charge of Glasgow City.
Primarily a midfielder who was also utilised in defence and attack at different stages of her career, Ross played at club ...
, who ultimately scored 250 goals in 12 seasons at the club. Glasgow City also won the domestic Treble in
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
,
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
,
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
and
2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
.
Glasgow City considered applying to join the English league in 2013. Club co-founder Carol Anne Stewart commented, "the FA are investing seriously in women's football. This is where the SFA are miles behind. They don't recognise the potential".
The issue of competitive imbalance was the catalyst for the separation of the top Scottish clubs into two reduced divisions, SWPL 1 and SWPL 2, in
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
.
The first professional contracts in the SWPL were signed at
Glasgow Girls (Glasgow Women) in 2016, by Lauren Coleman and Lauren Evans.
[ �]
(Article on PressReader)
/ref> The next full-time contracts were offered later by Rangers and Celtic.
2020–present
There were fears for the league's survival when the 2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
season was halted and eventually voided due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with other Scottish football organisations, the SWPL and SWF Championship
The Scottish Women's Football Championship is the third league tier of women's football in Scotland. Founded in 2020, the Championship replaced the SWFL First Division (SWFL 1). The Championship was played in North and South divisions for three ...
received donations from the philanthropist James Anderson and from an anonymous donor: "The focus was to buy time so the women's game could survive the COVID crisis until it was safe for football to return." The £437,500 total was the biggest investment in SWF to date.
The 2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
season was completed, as Glasgow City won their 14th title in a row. In 2022, a majority of the 17 SWPL clubs voted to leave SWF and join the SPFL
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...
after months of negotiations between those parties and the SFA, and an SFA review from April 2020 until mid-2021, which resolved to improve governance of elite competitions. The decision was aimed at improving the league's commercial profile and broadcasting deal. The league maintained its two divisions and expanded to 20 clubs. The top two tiers of women's football are run within the SPFL by a separate board that includes the clubs' representatives.
Format
From until 2008–09, the SWPL followed Scottish football
Association football is one of the national sports of Scotland and the most popular sport in the country. There is a long tradition of "football" games in Orkney, Lewis and southern Scotland, especially the Scottish Borders, although many of ...
's traditional autumn-spring calendar, as the SWFL had. Scottish Women's Football
Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scotti ...
changed all leagues to a summer format and the SWPL became a summer league from 2009 until 2020, running from March until November. The 2009 season was shortened to fit, as a single round-robin. The 2020 season was abandoned due to COVID-19, and Scottish women's football has reverted to winter seasons from onwards.
The initial Women's Premier League format was based on a double round-robin of 12 clubs. Some seasons had fewer games, in part due to the withdrawals of Shettleston (2003–04), Newburgh Juniors ( 2007–08), and Queen's Park ( 2008–09). The 2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
season also had an 11-club league. From 2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
until 2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
, the SWPL division used the "split" format for the first and last half of the season: a 12-team single round-robin, then a double round-robin between the top six and bottom six clubs respectively, to decide league champions and two relegation places to the First Division (SWFL 1).
The two-division format that began in 2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
created SWPL 1 and SWPL 2, with eight clubs in each, playing each other three times a season; the mid-season "split" was discontinued. Only the SWPL 2 champion club was promoted, while its two last-placed teams were relegated to SWFL 1.
SWPL 2 was expanded to 10 clubs in 2020
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
. SWPL 1 expanded to 10 clubs in 2021–22, but, because of the withdrawal of SWPL 1's Forfar Farmington from the SWPL, three clubs were promoted from SWPL 2, which shrank to seven clubs playing each other four times.
A 12-club "split" format returned in SWPL 1 in 2022–23, but with a double round-robin before the "split". SWPL 2 added three clubs from the Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
; SWPL 2 has eight teams playing each other four times, one automatic promotion place to SWPL 1, and a second place decided by a promotion/relegation play-off.
The SWPL champions have qualified for the UEFA Women's Cup/Women's Champions League since 2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
; the first Scottish club to qualify had been the SWFL's Ayr United in 2001. Glasgow City were the first Scottish club to reach the last 16 ( 2008–09) and the quarter-finals ( 2014–15, 2019–20). Depending on the Scottish national coefficient, the league runners-up have also qualified in some seasons since 2015
2015 was designated by the United Nations as:
* International Year of Light
* International Year of Soil __TOC__
Events
January
* January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
, including in 2021–22 and 2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
.
2023–24 teams
SWPL
SWPL 2
Champions
List of Scottish Women's Premier League seasons:
SWPL 2
Past SWPL clubs include Ayr United, Dundee, Cove Rangers, Giulianos, Inver-Ross, Lossiemouth, Raith Rovers, Shettleston, East Kilbride, Hutchison Vale
Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city.
History
...
, Newburgh Juniors, and Forfar Farmington. Clubs taken over by existing members include Arsenal North (Celtic) and Whitehill Welfare/Edinburgh Ladies (Spartans).
Broadcasting
In September 2018, it was announced that BBC Alba
BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day. The name ' is the Scottish Gae ...
would broadcast four SWPL 1 matches during the remainder of the 2018 season. Scottish Women's Football
Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scotti ...
(SWF) and BBC Alba also announced that this will be a two-year deal for six games per year, including the Scottish Women's Cup
The Women's Scottish Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland.
First held in 1970–71 and known as the Scottish Women's FA Cup, the competition was owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an ...
final and Scottish Women's Premier League Cup
The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup, currently known as the Sky Sports Cup due to sponsorship and commonly shortened to the SWPL Cup, is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The cup is open only to the teams in the Scottis ...
final. In 2023 Sky Sports and BBC Scotland have been airing SWPL games and SWPL1's matches began to appear on Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast.
History
Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...
' vidiprinter
A vidiprinter is a sports scores and results ticker service provided to media organisations. It is shown on BBC One, BBC Red Button and Sky Sports News to provide a live on-air feed of football scores from country-wide and European league and cup ...
service.
Sponsorship
The league's sponsors in 2002–03 were Thompsons Solicitors
Thompsons Solicitors, formerly Robin Thompson & Partners, is a large firm of solicitors founded in 1921 with longstanding links to the trade union movement. It is 45th on the list of largest United Kingdom-based law firms. It specialises in pers ...
. From 2018, the league was sponsored by the Scottish Building Society. In November 2021 Park's Motor Group
Park's Motor Group is a private family-owned business which is one of the largest privately owned motor dealership groups in Scotland, representing 26 manufacturers. They are also partners in the Motability scheme, offering cars to Disability ...
became the sponsor, initially running until the end of the 2021–22 season.
In popular culture
The Scottish Women's Premier League table was first included in the ''Evening Times'' ''Wee Red Book
The ''Wee Red book'' is an annual pocket-sized Scottish football publication by the Glasgow-based ''Glasgow Times'', which contains both the following season's fixtures in Scotland's four senior divisions and lists of previous league and cup win ...
'' in 2008–09.
References
External links
*
Current season at women.soccerway.com
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world
1
Scot
Scottish people or Scots (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ...
2002 establishments in Scotland
Sports leagues established in 2002
Former summer association football leagues