The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. During its final three seasons, the division operated as the second level of the league pyramid from 2010 to

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 fa ...

. The division was played on a home and away basis, with each team playing each other twice, and points being awarded in the standard football format. Below the National Division were simultaneously the Northern and Southern divisions and the remainder of the women's football pyramid. The terms ''Women's Premiership'' and ''Ladies' Premiership'' thus generally referred to the National Division alone. The women's National League Premier Division was conceived as the counterpart to the men's football First Division/

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 Fo ...

. Founded in 1991 by the

Women's Football Association The Women's Football Association (WFA) was the governing body of women's football in England. It was formed in 1969 and was disbanded in 1993, as responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the game of women's football in England passed to Th ...

, the league was taken over and renamed "Premier League" in the season 1994–95 by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

. The first title was won by Doncaster Belles in 1991–92. Arsenal hold the most championships, with 12 won between

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

and 2010. The National Division lost its top-league status and several teams when the FA introduced the summer competition Women's Super League (WSL) in 2011, with no further promotions.

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

was the final season for the Women's Premier League National Division, with the last championship won by Sunderland, their third in succession. The division was scrapped at the end of the 2012–13 season, prior to the launch of the

FA WSL 2 The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

(now the FA Women's Championship).

History

Arsenal v Everton 2010 FA Women's Cup Final

In its first two seasons, the women's National League operated on the pointscoring system of two points for a win, switching to

three points for a win Three points for a win is a standard used in many sports leagues and group tournaments, especially in association football, in which three points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is ...

in 1993–94. In the first season, 1991–92, the division contained eight clubs, increasing to 10 clubs in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

. Premiership teams also competed in the WFA Cup/FA Women's Cup and the Premier League Cup. The first five League champions all won the League and FA Cup

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

. From 2000 until 2008, the Premiership winner competed against the FA Cup winner or League runner-up annually for the FA Women's Community Shield. Until 2010, Premiership winners and runners-up competed in the UEFA Women's Cup/Women's Champions League as well. For the 2006–07 season, the number of competing teams was increased from 10 to 12, with the promotion of the Northern (

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

) and Southern (Cardiff City) champions and no relegations despite

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

es being played. For the National Division's 2010–11 season, the division was reduced to eight clubs from twelve. Six clubs left to form the WSL, as did the Northern Division champions and runners-up,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and OOH Lincoln. The six remaining National Division clubs and the Southern Division top two, Barnet and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, thus comprised the second-level National Division.

List of seasons

As level 1 division: :''Note: Bold designates teams that won a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

with the

Women's FA 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 rea ...

.
† Arsenal won a treble with the

UEFA Women's Cup 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. T ...

in 2007.'' As FA level 2 division: The Women's Premier League name continued at level 3 in 2013–14 after the National Division was scrapped.

Performance by club

External links

The FA Women's PagefemaleSOCCER.net – Girls and women's football including Premier League

References

{{UEFA women's leagues 1 1 Eng fr:Championnat d'Angleterre de football féminin

History

List of seasons

Performance by club

See also

External links

References