The Chinese Football Association Women's Super League (CWSL) (), commonly known as the Chinese Women's Super League or the CWSL is the top level women's
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
league in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
.
It was called the Chinese Women's National Football League from 2011 to 2014.
History
The league started in 1997 as the Chinese Women's Premier Football League. The name Women's Super League was first adopted in 2004. During the 2011 to 2014 seasons, the league was renamed to Women's National Football League and discontinued the practice of
promotion and relegation
Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...
due to a lack of available teams and playing talent.
In 2015, the
Chinese Football Association
The Chinese Football Association (), abbreviated as CFA (), is the governing body for association football, beach soccer and futsal in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China). The CFA organizes the men's and women's national teams an ...
relaunched the league,
again as the Women's Super League and with an affiliated second division, CWFL. It also gained a title sponsor,
LeTV Holdings Co Ltd. The league signed a five-year deal with Spanish apparel company
Kelme to provide uniforms.
Investment in women's clubs accelerated after the 2016 season with major corporate sponsors and investors, such as
Quanjian Group and
Guotai Junan Securities, raising player salaries and recruiting high-profile players from top-division leagues in Europe. This included
Brazilian star
Cristiane from
Paris Saint-Germain to
Changchun Zhuoyue,
2016 Toppserien golden boot winner
Isabell Herlovsen from
LSK Kvinner FK to
Jiangsu Suning F.C., and
Nigerian
Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...
star
Asisat Oshoala from
Arsenal L.F.C. and
Cameroonian star
Gaelle Enganamouit from
FC Rosengård to
Dalian Quanjian F.C.
Current clubs
Champions
The list of CWSL champions:
Wins by club
See also
*
Sport in China
**
Football in China
***
Women's football in China
*
China women's national football team
References
External links
Official website theCFA.cn
Leagueat futbol24.com
Official Website of the Federation (in Chinese)
Past and current leagueseasons (in Chinese)
{{Top level women's association football leagues around the world
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
women
A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl.
Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
1
Summer association football leagues
Sports leagues established in 1997
Professional sports leagues in China