The Scottish Women's Football Championship is the third league tier of

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 ...

. Founded in 2020, the Championship replaced the SWFL First Division (SWFL 1). The Championship was played in North and South divisions for three seasons until 2022, when it became a single national division with eight clubs. Scottish Women's Football League One was formed in 2022 with 14 clubs (12 coming from the Championship). League One is the fourth tier of the women's football pyramid and is a single national division. Earlier, the level 4 tier was the SWFL Third Division (1999–2008), SWFL Second Division (2016–2019), and the SWFL (2020–2021), which is now level 5. The Championship's first winners were Montrose (North) and Gartcairn (South). Teams can win promotion from the Championship to SWPL 2, and from League One to the Championship. No relegations are planned for 2022–23, and there is no regular relegation from League One to the SWFL, but some clubs have moved between these levels.

History

Like the SWFL First Division from 2016 to 2019, the Championship was played in North and South divisions for three seasons from 2020 to 2022. Championship North and Championship South had a total of 26 clubs. The Championship was expected to continue with

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 ...

's summer calendar for its seasons (playing March–November), but that system was abandoned by the Championship and SWPL during 2020. Due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, the leagues switched back to winter seasons in 2020–21. The Championship's inaugural 2020 season and 2020–21 season were both abandoned, due to the pandemic, and were declared null and void by SWF. The 2020–21 abandonment was made to allow SWF to focus on preparations for the 2021–22 season, which was completed. The divisional champions were Montrose (North) and Gartcairn (South). A national SWF Championship division was mooted in 2021. It will come into effect in the 2022–23 season, as will League One as the fourth tier. The Championship North and South divisions will be discontinued and their clubs mainly moved into the new divisions.

Member clubs for the 2021–22 season

Clubs in the two Championship divisions:Championship South
Scottish Women's Football

North

Buchan Buchan is an area of north-east Scotland, historically one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by th ...

* Cove Rangers * Dryburgh Athletic * Dundee West *

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

* East Fife *

Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region to ...

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

* Montrose *

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( , ) is a town in Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census. After the demise of the town of Kincardine, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal cast ...

* Westdyke

South

* Airdrie *

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

* BSC Glasgow *

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

* Edinburgh Caledonia * Edinburgh City *

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

* Gartcairn *

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

Renfrew Renfrew (; sco, Renfrew; gd, Rinn Friù) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former ...

* St Mirren * Stenhousemuir *

United Glasgow United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * United (2011 film) ...

Play-offs

The runners-up in Championship North and Championship South were intended to play-off against each other at the end of each season for a place in the promotion/relegation play-off final against the team that finished eighth in SWPL 2. Due to the uncompleted seasons in 2020 and 2020–21, the North–South play-off occurred only once, in 2021–22, but no SWPL clubs were relegated, because of the SWPL's expansion to 20 clubs. The North's East Fife beat the South division runners-up, Rossvale, 3–1 in the single-match promotion play-off in Alloa in May 2022.

Seasons

The SWF Championship kicked off 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- ...

, but its first two seasons were not completed. The following clubs have been the champions of the respective divisions:

References

External links

League at Scottish Women's FootballLeague at women.soccerway.com
{{Women's Football in Scotland

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 ...

Third level women's association football leagues in Europe 2020 establishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 2020