Women's association football 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 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

has an organised history including the first international women's match in 1881, the president of the

British Ladies' Football Club The British Ladies' Football Club was a women's association football team formed in Great Britain in 1895. The team, one of the first women's football clubs, had as its patron Lady Florence Dixie, an aristocrat from Dumfries, and its first captain ...

in 1895,

Lady Florence Dixie Lady Florence Caroline Dixie (née Douglas; 25 May 18557 November 1905) was a Scottish writer, war correspondent, and feminist. Her account of travelling ''Across Patagonia'', her children's books ''The Young Castaways'' and ''Aniwee; or, The ...

, the Edinburgh–Preston "World Championship" in 1937 and 1939, and 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 As ...

founded in 1970. The sport is jointly overseen by Scottish Women's Football (originally SWFA), 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 ...

, and Scottish Professional Football League. Faced with bans and restrictions from the 1920s to the 1970s by organisers of male football competitions, Scottish women's football has had some international success and recently gained some professional clubs. As of 2022, the women's leagues consist of the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League ...

with two divisions, the SWF Championship and

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, 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 ...

(formed in 1999) and the Highlands and Islands League. The

was first played in 1970–71, won by Stewarton Thistle. The Cup is open to all senior teams affiliated to SWF. Clubs of specific leagues enter the SWPL Cup, SWF Championship Cup, SWFL League Cup and Plate, the Highlands and Islands League Cup, the 'Performance' youth league cups, and various youth cups at lower levels. The Scotland women's national team played its first official game in

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 ...

, competed in the 1979 European championship and played its first game at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

in 2012. The team qualified for its first Women's World Cup in the 2019 tournament. Scotland's most famous female players include Rose Reilly,

Julie Fleeting Julie Fleeting MBE (born 18 December 1980), whose married name is Julie Stewart, is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. She spent nine years at English club Arsenal and was the first Scot to play as a full-time professional ...

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 ...

, and the most-capped player of the national team, Gemma Fay.

History

Church documents recorded women playing football in

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs ra ...

, Lanarkshire, in 1628. A Scotland team played in the world's first recorded women's association football match, an international, in May 1881 at

Hibernian Park Hibernian Park was the home ground of the Scottish football club Hibernian from 1880 until the club's dissolution in 1891. When the club was reformed in 1892, the club took out on a lease on a site which became known as Easter Road. Hibernian Pa ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where the Scotland XI won 3–0 against England.Plaque to the First Women Football Internationalists 1881
Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland, 17 December 2019 The

has records of a women's match that took place in 1892 (according to a 2005 article). However, the sport was traditionally seen as a

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

and

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

preserve. Women's football struggled for recognition during this early period. After a period of growth during and after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, including an Anglo-Scottish women's club game at Celtic Park in 1918, men's clubs who were interested in using their grounds for women's football were subsequently denied permission by the

(SFA) in 1924–25. Research has shown that clubs such as Rutherglen Ladies played exhibition matches for charity in front of large crowds during the 1920s and '30s.New exhibition to pay tribute to Rutherglen's trailblazing female footballers
Jonathan Geddes, Daily Record, 5 December 2021 Rutherglen won 2–0 against the famous English women's football team, Dick, Kerr Ladies, in their match at Shawfield Park in September 1923. Edinburgh Ladies faced Preston Ladies (the successor to Dick, Kerr Ladies), for a British trophy named the Ladies' Football World Championship, on at least two occasions in the 1930s. Preston won in 1937 by a 5–1 score, but the trophy went to Scotland in 1939, when Edinburgh won the title, beating Preston 5–2 in an apparently longer club competition. The sport continued on an unofficial basis until 1971, when

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

instructed its members to take control of women's football within their territories. The motion was passed 31–1, but Scotland was the only member to vote against it. In 1971 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 ...

(SWFA) was founded and six teams registered for competition: Aberdeen, Edinburgh Dynamos, Westthorn United, Motherwell AEI, Dundee Strikers and Stewarton Thistle. In 1972–73, Westthorn United won the first league title. With Scotland having played their first official international match and Scottish teams reaching the final of the English WFA Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973, the SFA lifted the ban and recognised the SWFA in August 1974. The

(SWFL) was formed by the SWFA and clubs in November 1999, from the existing national league. In 2002–03, the SWFL Premier Division broke away to form the Premier League (SWPL). The SWFA was renamed

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 ...

Ltd (SWF) in 2001, and in 2007 was taken over by the SFA.

Champions

The following clubs are known to have won the Scottish Women's FA National League (1972–1999),

championship (1999–2002) and Scottish Women's Premier League (2002–present): * 1937: Edinburgh City Girls

: * 1972–73:

Westthorn United Westthorn United Ladies Football Club was an early women's football team in Scotland. The team was founded in 1967 by women working at Gay's biscuit factory in Glasgow. It was initially known as the Glasgow Gay Ladies, or Glasgow Gay Eleven. It s ...

* 1973-74: Motherwell AEI (noted in the Dumbarton County Reporters in February 1976 as being unbeaten in over two seasons) * 1974–75: Motherwell AEI * 1975–76:

Edinburgh Dynamos The Edinburgh Dynamos Ladies Football Club was a leading association football team in Scotland. The club was founded in the 1940s by Linda Clements and Mary Leslie, who had formerly played for the Edinburgh City Girls F.C. The Girls team disbanded ...

(the East Division winners, beat Motherwell AEI, West Division winners in a decider) * 1976-1979: ? * 1979-80: Motherwell AEI * 1980-81: ? * 1981-82: Motherwell * 1982–83: Dundee Strikers * 1983–84: Allanton Miners' Welfare * 1984–85: Whitehill * 1985–86: ? * 1986–87: Dundee Strikers * 1987–88: Stewarton Thistle (beat Livingston Thistle in a decider held over until November 1988) * 1988–89: ? * 1989–90: ? * 1990–91: Inveralmond Thistle * 1991–92: Inveralmond Thistle * 1992–93: Hutchison Vale * 1993–94: Hutchison Vale * 1994–95: Hutchison Vale * 1995–96: Cumbernauld United * 1996–97: Cumbernauld United * 1997–98: Cumbernauld United * 1998–99: Cumbernauld United eported in the press in Oct 1999 as Scotland's top team when they were briefly renamed Stenhousemuir between Oct 1999 and Feb 2001 SWFL Premier Division: * 1999–00: Stenhousemuir * 2000–01: Ayr United * 2001–02:

F.C. Kilmarnock Ladies Kilmarnock FC Women is a women's football team based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire that plays in the SWPL 2. Founded as Stewarton Thistle, the club is the oldest women's football team in Scotland and celebrated its 50th anniversary in July 2011. Hi ...

: * 2002–03: F.C. Kilmarnock * 2003–04: Hibernian Ladies * 2004–05: Glasgow City * 2005–06: Hibernian Ladies * 2006–07: Hibernian Ladies * 2007–08: Glasgow City * 2008–09: Glasgow City * 2009: Glasgow City * 2010: Glasgow City *

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 ...

: Glasgow City *

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 ...

: Glasgow City *

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 ...

: Glasgow City *

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 ...

: Glasgow City *

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 *

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 ...

: Glasgow City *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

: Glasgow City *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

: Glasgow City *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

: Glasgow City *

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 ...

: Glasgow City * 2021–22: Rangers

League system

In 2016, the

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 Foo ...

was reduced from 12 to 8 eight teams but expanded to a second level. In 2017, the SWFL 2 changed from 4 to 3 regions. In 2020, clubs in SWFL 1 became members of a new Championship and SWFL 2 became a separate system. The current (since 2022) pyramid is over 4 tiers, plus leagues outside of the pyramid: The team that wins the Premier League title qualifies for the following season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, with the runners-up generally also qualifying depending on the nation's

coefficient In mathematics, a coefficient is a multiplicative factor in some term of a polynomial, a series, or an expression; it is usually a number, but may be any expression (including variables such as , and ). When the coefficients are themselves var ...

. The pre-2020 third-tier regional divisions under the

became a separate 'Recreational' setup no longer linked by merit to the 'Performance' levels above (although individual clubs can still apply to join the Championship). Until 2019, reserve and youth squads could compete in the senior pyramid as long as they were not in the same division as the titular club – this was then changed with the introduction of a 'National Performance League' structure for under-16 and under-19 leagues featuring age group teams of the top clubs.

Scottish Women's Cup

The Scottish Women's Cup is the primary national knockout cup competition, is owned and managed by SWF, and is open to all senior teams affiliated with the SWF. The competition was first held in 1970–71 and has been held annually for 50 seasons. The winner of the first competition was Stewarton Thistle. They played against the Aberdeen Prima Donnas and won 4–2. Stewarton later became F.C. Kilmarnock, the Cup-winners in 2001 and 2002. The Cup has been won the most times by Glasgow City (nine times) and Hibernian (eight times). In the 2022 Scottish Women's Cup final,

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 ...

played against Glasgow City and won 3-2

Senior national team

Scotland's first official match, a 3–2 defeat to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, took place in November 1972. The team was managed by

Rab Stewart Robert Edward Thorburn Stewart (7 October 1932 – 27 September 1992) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a right half, making nearly 150 appearances in the Scottish Football League. After retiring as a player, Stewart became ...

. The Scottish Women's Football Association was not recognised by the SFA until 1974. The SFA assumed direct responsibility for Scottish women's football in 1998. The Scottish government in 2013 promised to increase funding for the Women's national team. Scotland women's national football team qualified for their first major tournament Euro 2017. The

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

was the first time the Women's team qualified for a world cup.

References

{{Women's football in Europe Football in Scotland

History

Champions

League system

Scottish Women's Cup

Senior national team

See also

References