List Of English Women's Football Champions
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The English women's football champions are the winners of the highest national league in
women's football in England Women's association football, Women's football has been played in England for over a century, sharing a common history with the men's game in the country in which the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game were codified. Wome ...
. From 1991 this was the WFA National League/FA Women's Premier League, and since 2011 the
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 ...
.


First champions


Early 20th century

The codification of professional men's football 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 ...
in 1885 and the
Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
in 1888 did not coincide with similar measures for the women's teams who were playing in those years. Clubs such as 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 captai ...
(founded in 1895) mainly competed in friendly matches and national tours with some success. Women's football had a resurgence in popularity and attendances around the country during and after the First World War. During the 1920–21 season, the
Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club was one of the earliest known women's association football teams in England. The team remained in existence for over 48 years, from 1917 to 1965, playing 755 games, winning 682, drawing 39, and losing 34. During i ...
toured Great Britain and won 58 matches out of 59 played, with one draw. Stoke Ladies F.C. were the first known winners of a women's national knockout tournament in 1922, the
English Ladies Football Association The English Ladies' Football Association (ELFA) was formed in 1921 and active until 1922. It was arguably a direct response to the Football Association (FA)’s ban on women's football teams. The first meeting of the ELFA was held several weeks af ...
Challenge Cup, played under an effective ban on women's football by the FA. The renamed Dick, Kerr team, Preston Ladies, faced
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
for a (British) cup 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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
in 1939, when Edinburgh won the title, beating Preston 5–2 in an apparently longer club competition.


Women's Football Association (WFA)

The WFA was founded in November 1969 as the ''Ladies Football Association of Great Britain'', when the main women's football competitions were Regional Leagues. After the English
Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...
reversed its 1921 ban on women's games at its grounds, the WFA Cup began in 1970–71, a national competition initially including many clubs outside of England. In the 1971 Final, Southampton Women's F.C. became the champions by beating Kilmarnock's Stewarton Thistle, who won the first
Scottish Women's Cup The Women's Scottish Cup is the national knockout cup competition for women's football in Scotland. First held in 1970–71 and known as the Scottish Women's FA Cup, the competition was owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an ...
in the same year. Southampton were the leading English team of the era, WFA Cup-winners eight times between
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
and
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
, and runners-up twice.
Doncaster Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an England, English women's association football, women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's admi ...
won their first WFA Cup Final in
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
and proceeded to reach almost every Final in the next decade; the
1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
Final was their fourth Cup victory, but
Millwall Lionesses Millwall Lionesses Football Club is an English women's football club based in Rotherhithe, south-east London, that plays in the , the fifth tier of English women's football. Founded in 1973, the group of women who made up the Lionesses were at ...
beat Doncaster in the Final in
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 ...
. At this time, the WFA received a grant from the Sports Council to create the Women's National League. This began in the 1991–92 season with eight teams in the Premier Division, and 16 teams in the Northern and Southern Divisions. The WFA Cup (Women's FA Cup) has continued alongside the leagues, and the Women's National League Cup also started in 1991–92. Since then, the top-level league has determined the annual champions of English women's football – this encompasses the division's renaming as the FA Women's Premier League (from 1994), qualification to 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 ...
(from 2001), and the addition of the FA WSL (from 2011).


List of League champions

:''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.''


WFA National League Premier Division (1991–1994)


FA Women's Premier League National Division (1994–2010)


Women's Super League (2011–present)


Total titles won

Since 1991, eight separate clubs have won an English women's national league championship. Four more clubs have been the national runners-up. :''Note: Bold designates teams competing in
2024–25 Women's Super League The 2024–25 Women's Super League season (also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010. It was the sixth season after the rebranding o ...
season.''


See also

* List of women's association football clubs in England * List of Belgian women's football champions *
List of French women's football champions The French women's football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in France for women, the Première Ligue. Since the creation of the women's first division by the French Football Federation in 1975, the women's football champ ...
*
List of German women's football champions This is a list of all German women's football champions. TuS Wörrstadt won the first championship, held in 1974. SV Bergisch Gladbach 09, SSG Bergisch Gladbach is the club with the most championships, winning the trophy nine times. The women's f ...
* List of Swedish women's football champions *
List of association football competitions This is a list of the association football competitions past and present for international teams and for club football, in individual countries and internationally. Confirmed future competitions are also included. The competitions are groupe ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of English Football Champions
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
Women's football champions Lists of British award winners
Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...
Champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional/provincial/state, national, continental and world championships, and ...
Champions Women's association football-related lists English women's football trophies and awards Women's Super League awards FA Women's National League awards