The

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League is a group of six Association football, football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Footba ...

National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

until

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, 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

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. 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 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 ...

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 is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. 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 t ...

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

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

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

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

. The National Division lost its top-league status and several teams when the FA introduced the summer competition

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

(WSL) in 2011, with no further promotions. 2012–13 was the final season for the Women's Premier League National Division, with the last championship won by

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, 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 (now the FA Women's Championship).

History

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 3 points are awarded to the team winning a match, with no points awarded to the losing team. If the game is draw ...

in 1993–94. In the first season, 1991–92, the division contained eight clubs, increasing to 10 clubs in 1992–93. 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 Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

. 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 level 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 matches 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 port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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 symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, thus comprised the second-level National Division.

List of seasons

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

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

with the

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

.
†

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

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