The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup

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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 t ...

. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Prior to this it was known as the FA WSL Cup. The sponsor

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was announced on 19 August 2011, meaning that for sponsorship reasons the competition is referred to as the FA Women's Continental Tyres League Cup. Eleven editions have been played, with

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winning five finals.

History

Chelsea FC Women v Arsenal WFC, 29 February 2020 (01)

Before the creation of the FA Women's Super League the top women's clubs competed in the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup inclu ...

. The first League Cup edition under the WSL was played after the inaugural FA WSL season.

, having already won the WSL and the

FA Women's 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 reas ...

, completed the national treble after a 4–1 win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. The 2012 cup saw a change of format. The straight knock-out was abolished and group-stage with two groups was created. The top two of each group advance to the semi-finals. 2014 saw 18 teams enter, with the new WSL 2 teams joining the WSL teams. There are three groups of six teams. In 2015 for the first time a quarter-final stage was played. For 2016 the cup changed to a true knock-out format and abolished the group stage. A move which was made in agreement with the clubs to increase excitement and competitiveness. With 19 teams, the bottom six teams play a preliminary round. The round of 16 following that is seeded, so that WSL 1 teams meet WSL 2 teams, who have home advantage. In 2017–18 again a group stage was added. In 2018–19, as part of the restructuring of women's football, 22 teams entered. The competition was split up into 11 North and South, with each region having one group of six and one group of five. Each team would play one match against each other, with the top two in each group advancing to a quarter-final. The format was similar in 2019–20, with an extra team in the South. The groups are A (North, 6 teams) B (South, 6 teams) C (North, 5 teams) D (South, 6 teams) making 23 teams.

List of finals

Only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have won the FA Women's League Cup. Birmingham City have lost the most finals, finishing as runners-up three times.

Results by team

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence.

References

External links

Cup
at fawsl.com {{National football league cups Women's football competitions in England Recurring sporting events established in 2011 National association football league cups 2011 establishments in England