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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 Championship ...
. Its two divisions are 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). The league current ...
(SWFL) broke away to form the SWPL in
2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
. SWPL 2 was introduced in
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
. The divisions contain (in the 2022–23 season) 12 clubs in SWPL 1 and eight in SWPL 2. Glasgow City have won 15 League championships, including 14 in succession from 2007 until
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
. The champions and runners-up of SWPL 1 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. The ...
. 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 Scott ...
. Administration of the SWPL was taken over by the
Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
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 ...
in 2022. The SWPL runs on the winter calendar but operated a summer-season format from 2009 until
2020 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 events, COVID- ...
.


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, me ...
, 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). The league current ...
(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 Scottish Women's Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland. First held in 1970–71, the competition is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Assoc ...
-winners Stewarton Thistle, and Killie 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 Jim Chapman may refer to: * Jim Chapman (congressman) (born 1945), American businessman and politician ** Jim Chapman Lake, a lake in Texas named after the politician * Jim Chapman (footballer) (born 1965), Scottish footballer * Jim Chapman (Intern ...
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 ...
,
Joanne Love Joanne Love (born 6 December 1985) is a Scottish international footballer who plays as a midfielder. Since 2011 she has played for Glasgow City, having previously played in Scotland for Kilmarnock and Celtic, in the English FA Women's Premier Le ...
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 Pauline Hamill (born 18 December 1971) is a Scottish former female international football forward who retired in 2011 while playing for Celtic L.F.C., Celtic in the Scottish Women's Premier League. A left–sided winger or forward, Hamill enjoyed ...
,
Kirsty McBride Kirsty McBride (born 9 September 1985) is a Scottish football midfielder who plays for Motherwell in the SWFL 2nd Division. She has represented the Scotland women's national football team more than 50 times at senior level. Early life After ...
, Suzanne Grant,
Joelle Murray Joelle Louise Murray (born 7 November 1986) is a Scottish international footballer who plays as a defender for Hibernian of the Scottish Women's Premier League. Murray grew up in Chirnside, Scotland, and started her career playing with loca ...
and
Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal of the English FA WSL. Before her retirement from international duty in 2021, Little was vice-captain of the Scotland women's n ...
. 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 Fo ...
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 SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...
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, 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 seasons, City lost only four matches in the League, with squads including
Jane Ross Jane Ross may refer to: *Jane Ross (collector) (1810–1879), Irish folksong collector *Jane Ross (philanthropist) (1920–1999), American businesswoman and philanthropist *Jane Ross (footballer) Jane Celestina Ross (born 18 September 1989) is ...
,
Denise O'Sullivan Denise O'Sullivan (born 4 February 1994) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the American club North Carolina Courage of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Republic of Ireland national team which s ...
(each a winner of the SWPL Players' Player of the Year), and Leanne Ross, who ultimately scored 250 goals in 12 seasons at the club. Glasgow City also won the domestic Treble in
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
,
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 fact ...
,
2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
. 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. The first professional contracts in the SWPL were signed at Glasgow Girls (Glasgow Women) in 2016, by Lauren Coleman and Lauren Evans. â€
(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 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 events, COVID- ...
season was halted and eventually voided due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with other Scottish football organisations, the SWPL and SWF Championship 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 b ...
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 we ...
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 ( sco, fitbaa, gd, ball-coise) 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 Scot ...
'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 Scott ...
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 ( 2002–03 until 2010), 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 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
season had an 11-club league. From
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
until
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, 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 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
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 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 events, COVID- ...
. 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 is returning 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 system ...
; 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
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; 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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, including in 2021–22.


2022–23 teams


SWPL 1


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 with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal s ...
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 Scott ...
(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 Scottish Women's Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland. First held in 1970–71, the competition is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Assoc ...
final and
Scottish Women's Premier League Cup The Scottish Women's Premier League Cup or SWPL Cup is a league cup competition in women's football in Scotland. The Cup is open only to the teams in the Scottish Women's Premier League. There are four rounds, including the final. The competition ...
final.


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 perso ...
. From 2018, the league was sponsored by the
Scottish Building Society The Scottish Building Society is a building society based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the oldest building society in the world, the only independent building society based in Scotland and the 24th largest in the United Kingdom based on total a ...
. 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 disabled r ...
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 '' Evening Times'', which contains both the following season's fixtures in Scotland's four senior divisions and lists of previous league and cup wi ...
'' in 2008–09.


References


External links

*
Current season at women.soccerway.com
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world 1
Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...
2002 establishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 2002 Former summer association football leagues