The

Scottish Women's Football League The Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) is a group of women's football divisions in Scotland. The league is owned and managed by Scottish Women's Football (SWF), an affiliated body of the Scottish Football Association (SFA). Following on from ...

First Division (SWFL 1) was a division in the

Scottish women's football Scottish Women's Football (SWF), formerly known as the Scottish Women’s Football Association (SWFA) between 1972 and 2001, is the governing body for women's association football in Scotland. It is an affiliated national association of the Scotti ...

pyramid between 1999 and 2019. The second league tier from 1999 to 2015, it was later the third tier from

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

to 2019. For most of its history, the First Division was a national league whose top teams won promotion to the

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL (previously styled as ''SWPL 1'') and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of th ...

(SWPL), while the lowest were relegated to the Second Division (SWFL 2). Those divisions operated on the traditional autumn–spring football season calendar until 2009, when they switched to a March–November schedule. From

to 2019, SWFL 1 was split into North and South regional divisions, with one team from each division promoted to SWPL 2. In the 2020 season, SWFL 1 was replaced as the third tier by the

Scottish Women's Football Championship The Scottish Women's Football Championship is the third league tier of women's football in Scotland. Founded in 2020, the Championship replaced the SWFL First Division (SWFL 1). The Championship was played in North and South divisions for three ...

History

Champions

*1999-00: Queen of the South OR Elgin City (both won promotion) *2000–01: Raith Rovers *2001–02: Inver-Ross *2002–03: East Kilbride *2003-04: Aberdeen *2004-05: Forfar Farmington *2005-06: Lochee United *2006–07: Queen's Park * 2008-09:

Rangers W.F.C. Rangers Women's Football Club is a women's football team that plays in the Scottish Women's Premier League, the top division of women's football in Scotland. The team is the female branch of Rangers. History Paisley City Ladies, formerly Arth ...

*2009: Celtic Reserves *2010: Celtic Reserves *2011:

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

*2012: Hibernian Reserves *2013: Queen's Park *2014: Falkirk Ladies *2015: Glasgow Girls F.C. Seniors

Seasons

1999–2009

Queen of the South and Elgin City both won promotion to the Premier Division in 1999-00. Raith Rovers won the 2000–01 First Division with 44 points, four ahead of Clyde and Shettleston. The member clubs in 2000–01 were: *

*Albion Rovers *Clyde *

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

*East Kilbride * Forfar Farmington *

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

*Raith Rovers *Shettleston *

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

Promoted in 2001–02 were F.C. Hamilton and the champions Inver-Ross L.F.C., who became Ross County L.F.C. in 2003. East Kilbride won the First Division and promotion in 2002–03, and reached that season's League Cup final. Aberdeen, Forfar Farmington and Lochee United were the subsequent champions in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively. Queen's Park were the 2006–07 First Division champions and returned to the SWPL (after the club's previous promotion in 2004 and relegation in 2006). In 2007–08, the promotion-winners were Dundee United S.C. and Dalkeith Ladies (Boroughmuir Thistle), coached by Pauline MacDonald.
The First Division clubs in 2007–08 were: *Bishopbriggs Ladies *Bo'ness United *Buchan *Cowdenbeath Women's *

* Dalkeith Ladies *Dumfries *

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Hutchison Vale Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale Football Club (LTHV) are a senior non-league football club based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Currently competing in the , they play their home matches at Saughton Enclosure in the Saughton area of the city. History ...

*Inverness Ladies *Murieston United * Paisley City Ladies Paisley City Ladies became

in 2008–09, and won promotion to the SWPL that season in a ten-team division: *Bo'ness United *Celtic 'B' *Cowdenbeath *Dumfries *

*Glasgow Ladies A *Hutchison Vale *Inverness Ladies *Rangers *Tynecastle

2009–2015

The First Division winners in the 2010 season were a team ineligible for promotion, Celtic Reserves, so

and Falkirk LFC were promoted from the SWFL to the SWPL (replaced by the relegated Aberdeen LFC). Hearts LFC, Buchan and Airdrie United were relegated to the SWFL Second Division and were replaced by Scottish Women's Football League Second Division East champions, Hibernian 2000, and two clubs from the Scottish Women's Football League Second Division West, Paisley Saints Ladies and Wishaw Juniors (formerly Motherwell). Member clubs in the 2011 season: *

* Celtic Reserves * Cowdenbeath * Glasgow City Reserves * Hibernian 2000 * Paisley Saints Ladies * Queen's Park * Raith Rovers * Toryglen * Troon * Wishaw Juniors Aberdeen were the 2011 champions and were promoted to the SWPL. Runners-up Celtic Reserves were ineligible for promotion while third placed Toryglen Ladies folded over the close season. Wishaw Juniors had also folded mid-season and withdrawn from the league. To maintain numbers, no sides were relegated from either the Premier League or the First Division in 2011. Buchan Ladies, Kilwinning Sports Club, Airdrie United and Forfar Farmington Reserves were promoted from the regional Second Divisions in 2011. In 2012, the champions and runners up, Hibernian Reserves and Celtic Reserves, were ineligible for promotion to the SWPL. Third-placed Buchan L.F.C. and 4th-placed Kilwinning SC were subsequently promoted, while the relegated

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

and Inverness City replaced them in SWFL 1. Dunfermline Athletic, East Fife, Hearts and Murieston United were promoted from the regional Second Divisions. Hibernian Reserves withdrew to compete in a newly-formed Development League with the relegated reserve teams of Glasgow City and Forfar Farmington and the Second-Division reserve teams of

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

and

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

. Airdrie United Ladies played in the 2012 First Division, but were replaced by Cumbernauld Colts in 2013 when the entire Airdrie squad defected to that club. Troon Ladies merged with Glasgow Girls and assume the latter name. Member clubs in the 2013 season were: *Celtic Reserves *Cowdenbeath *Cumbernauld Colts *Dunfermline Athletic *East Fife *FC Kilmarnock *Glasgow Girls *Hearts *Inverness City *Murieston United *Paisley Saints Ladies * Queen's Park The next champions of the First Division were Queen's Park (2013) and Falkirk Ladies (2014). At the end of 2015, its last season as a national league, the First Division had its top four clubs join SWPL 2 (but they remained level 2 league clubs). The 2015 standings were: *1st: Glasgow Girls F.C. Seniors *2nd: Buchan Ladies *3rd: Jeanfield Swifts *4th: Queen's Park *5th: Cumbernauld Colts *6th: Hibernian Development *7th: Celtic Academy *8th: Mill United *9th: East Fife *10th: Dunfermline Athletic *11th: Boroughmuir Thistle *12th: Murieston United

2016

In the first season after league reconstruction, East Fife won the northern division by 17 points, and Motherwell were SWFL 1 South winners by five points; both were promoted to SWPL 2. Final standings: North group: *1st: East Fife *2nd: Dunfermline Athletic *3rd: Central Girls *4th: Aberdeen B *5th: Forfar Farmington B South group: *1st:

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

*2nd: Hibernian B *3rd: Celtic B *4th: Rangers B *5th:

2017

Central Girls Football Academy won the North division by 9 points and

won the South division by 20 points. Central had a goal difference of +84 and Kilmarnock +52. Both were promoted to the SWPL 2 for the 2018 season. Final standings: North group: *1st: Central Girls *2nd:

*3rd:

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

*4th: Granite City *5th:

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

South group: *1st:

*2nd: Celtic B *3rd:

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

*4th:

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

*5th: Cumbernauld Colts

2018

Member clubs in the 2018 season: North: * Aberdeen 23s *Buchan *Cove Rangers *Dee Ladies *Deveronvale *

*Dunfermline Athletic * East Fife *Raith Rovers Ladies *Inverness City Ladies * Stirling University Development *Westdyke Ladies South: *Blackburn United * Boroughmuir Thistle F.C. * Celtic Academy *Cumbernauld Colts *

* Hibernian Development *Morton * Queen's Park * Rangers Development *Renfrew *Thistle Weir *Westerlands Final standings: North group: *1st:

*2nd: East Fife *3rd:

*4th:

*5th: Cove Rangers South group: *1st: Hibernian B *2nd: Celtic B *3rd:

*4th: Queen's Park *5th:

Westerlands The fictional world in which the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels by George R. R. Martin take place is divided into several continents, known collectively as The Known World. Most of the story takes place on the continent of Westeros and in ...

2019

Member clubs in the 2019 season: North: *Aberdeen FC Women *Buchan L.F.C. *Cove Rangers *Deveronvale Ladies *Dunfermline Athletic *East Fife *Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC *Kelty Hearts * Montrose *Raith Rovers Women *Stonehaven Ladies F.C. *Westdyke Ladies ''Details:'

South: *Ayr United *Blackburn United *Boroughmuir Thistle FC *Celtic Academy *FC Kilmarnock 23s * Glasgow City F.C., Glasgow City Development *Hamilton Academical 23s *Hibernian 23s *Queens Park L.F.C. *Rangers Development *Renfrew Ladies FC * Spartans Development ''Details:'

Final standings: North group: *1st:

*2nd:

*3rd: Cove Rangers *4th: Buchan W.F.C., Buchan *5th:

South group:Women's Championship 2019 South
ic Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2021 *1st: Glasgow City F.C., Glasgow City Development *2nd: Celtic Academy *3rd: Hibernian 23s *4th: Queen's Park *5th: Boroughmuir Thistle

References

External links

League at Scottish Womens FootballLeague at women.soccerway.com
{{Women's Football in Scotland 2 1999 establishments in Scotland 2019 disestablishments in Scotland Sports leagues established in 1999 Sports leagues disestablished in 2019 Defunct football leagues in Scotland