Women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams partic ...

in Scotland has an organised history including the first international women's match in 1881, the president of 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 ...

in 1895,

Lady Florence Dixie Lady Florence Caroline Dixie (née Douglas; 24 May 18557 November 1905) was a Scottish writer, war correspondent, and feminist. Her account of travelling ''Across Patagonia'', her children's books ''The Young Castaways'' and ''Aniwee; or, The ...

, the Edinburgh–Preston "World Championship" in 1937 and 1939, and the

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 ...

founded in 1970. The sport is jointly overseen by Scottish Women's Football (originally SWFA), the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

, and

Scottish Professional Football League The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As well ...

. Faced with bans and restrictions from the 1920s to the 1970s by organisers of male football competitions, Scottish women's football has had some international success and recently gained some professional clubs. As of 2022, the women's leagues consist of 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 ...

with two divisions, the

SWF 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 ...

and League One, 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 ...

(formed in 1999) and the

Highlands and Islands League The Highlands and Islands League is an amateur women's association football league in Scotland, run by Scottish Women's Football (SWF). Founded in 2019, the league sits outside the current Scottish Women's Football League pyramid. It comprises ei ...

. The

was first played in 1970–71, won by Stewarton Thistle. The Cup is open to all senior teams affiliated to SWF. Clubs of specific leagues enter the SWPL Cup, SWF Championship Cup, SWFL League Cup and Plate, the Highlands and Islands League Cup, the 'Performance' youth league cups, and various youth cups at lower levels. The Scotland women's national team played its first official game in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, competed in the 1979 European championship and played its first game at

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

in 2012. The team qualified for its first Women's World Cup in the 2019 tournament. Scotland's most famous female players include

Rose Reilly Rose Peralta (, born 2 January 1955), known as Rose Reilly, is a former footballer who played as a striker. She represented both Scotland and Italy in international football. Club career Rose was born in Kilmarnock and was brought up in St ...

Julie Fleeting Julie Stewart Order of the British Empire, MBE (; born 18 December 1980) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. She spent nine years at English club Arsenal L.F.C., Arsenal ...

Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal of the English Women's Super League. Before her retirement from international ...

, and the most-capped player of the national team, Gemma Fay.

History

Church documents recorded women playing football in

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

, Lanarkshire, in 1628. A Scotland team played in the world's first recorded women's association football match, an international, in May 1881 at

Hibernian Park Hibernian Park was the home ground of the Scottish football club Hibernian from 1880 until the club's dissolution in 1891. When the club was reformed in 1892, the club took out on a lease on a site which became known as Easter Road. Hibernian ...

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 ...

, where the Scotland XI won 3–0 against England.Plaque to the First Women Football Internationalists 1881
Mapping Memorials to Women in Scotland, 17 December 2019 The

has records of a women's match that took place in 1892 (according to a 2005 article). However, the sport was traditionally seen as a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

and

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

preserve. Women's football struggled for recognition during this early period. After a period of growth during and after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, including an Anglo-Scottish women's club game at Celtic Park in 1918, men's clubs who were interested in using their grounds for women's football were subsequently denied permission by the

(SFA) in 1924–25. Research has shown that clubs such as Rutherglen Ladies played exhibition matches for charity in front of large crowds during the 1920s and '30s.New exhibition to pay tribute to Rutherglen's trailblazing female footballers
Jonathan Geddes, Daily Record, 5 December 2021 Rutherglen won 2–0 against the famous English women's football team,

Dick, Kerr Ladies 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 ...

, in their match at Shawfield Park in September 1923. Edinburgh Ladies faced Preston Ladies (the successor to Dick, Kerr Ladies), for a British trophy 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 in 1939, when Edinburgh won the title, beating Preston 5–2 in an apparently longer club competition. The sport continued on an unofficial basis until 1971, when

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

instructed its members to take control of women's football within their territories. The motion was passed 31–1, but Scotland was the only member to vote against it. In 1971 the

Scottish Women's Football Association 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 ...

(SWFA) was founded and six teams registered for competition: Aberdeen, Edinburgh Dynamos, Westthorn United, Motherwell AEI, Dundee Strikers and Stewarton Thistle. In 1972–73, Westthorn United won the first league title. With Scotland having played their first official international match and Scottish teams reaching the final of the English WFA Cup in 1971, 1972 and 1973, the SFA lifted the ban and recognised the SWFA in August 1974. The

(SWFL) was formed by the SWFA and clubs in November 1999, from the existing national league. In 2002–03, the SWFL Premier Division broke away to form the Premier League (SWPL). The SWFA was renamed

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 ...

Ltd (SWF) in 2001, and in 2007 was taken over by the SFA.

Champions

The following clubs are known to have won the Scottish Women's FA National League (1972–1999),

championship (1999–2002) and Scottish Women's Premier League (2002–present):

Scottish Women's Football League (1972–1999)

SWFL Premier Division (1999–2002)

Scottish Women's Premier League (2002–present)

League system

In 2016, the

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 ...

was reduced from 12 to 8 eight teams but expanded to a second level. In 2017, the SWFL 2 changed from 4 to 3 regions. In 2020, clubs in SWFL 1 became members of a new Championship and SWFL 2 became a separate system. The current (since 2022) pyramid is over 4 tiers, plus leagues outside of the pyramid: The team that wins the Premier League title qualifies for the following season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, with the runners-up generally also qualifying depending on the nation's

coefficient In mathematics, a coefficient is a Factor (arithmetic), multiplicative factor involved in some Summand, term of a polynomial, a series (mathematics), series, or any other type of expression (mathematics), expression. It may be a Dimensionless qu ...

. The pre-2020 third-tier regional divisions under the

became a separate 'Recreational' setup no longer linked by merit to the 'Performance' levels above (although individual clubs can still apply to join the Championship). Until 2019, reserve and youth squads could compete in the senior pyramid as long as they were not in the same division as the titular club – this was then changed with the introduction of a 'National Performance League' structure for under-16 and under-19 leagues featuring age group teams of the top clubs.

Scottish Women's Cup

The Scottish Women's Cup is the primary national knockout cup competition, is owned and managed by SWF, and is open to all senior teams affiliated with the SWF. The competition was first held in 1970–71. The winner of the first competition was Stewarton Thistle. They played against the Aberdeen Prima Donnas and won 4–2. Stewarton later became F.C. Kilmarnock, the Cup-winners in 2001 and 2002. The Cup has been won the most times by Glasgow City (nine times) and Hibernian (eight times). In the 2022 final,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

defeated Glasgow City to win the trophy for the first time;

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

won their first in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Senior national team

Scotland's first official match, a 3–2 defeat to

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 ...

, took place in November 1972. The team was managed by

Rab Stewart Robert Edward Thorburn Stewart (7 October 1932 – 27 September 1992) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a right half, making nearly 150 appearances in the Scottish Football League. After retiring as a player, Stewart became a ...

. The Scottish Women's Football Association was not recognised by the SFA until 1974. The SFA assumed direct responsibility for Scottish women's football in 1998. The Scottish government in 2013 promised to increase funding for the Women's national team. Scotland women's national football team qualified for their first major tournament Euro 2017. The

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

was the first time the Women's team qualified for a world cup.

References

{{Women's football in Europe Football in Scotland