The Women's League Cup, also known as the Subway Women's League Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is a league cup

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

in English

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 ...

. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the

FA WSL 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 ...

, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Prior to this it was known as the FA WSL Cup.

Continental AG Continental AG, commonly known as Continental and colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company. Headquartered in Hanover, Lower Saxony, it is the world's third- largest automotive supplier and the fo ...

sponsored the competition from the inception until 2024 and during this period, the cup was referred to as the FA Women's Continental Tyres League Cup (commonly known as just the Conti Cup). Following the completed takeover by Women's Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), the cup is now referred to as the Women's League Cup. Fourteen editions have been played, with

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 ...

being the most successful club with seven titles.

History

Before 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 ...

(WSL) was established, the top women's clubs competed in the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual England, English women's association football, football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, Women's Football Association (WFA). The 1991–92 WFA Women's National L ...

. The first League Cup edition under the WSL was played after the inaugural FA WSL season.

, having already won the WSL and the

FA Women's 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 ...

, completed the national treble after a 4–1 win over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. The 2012 edition saw a change of format. The straight knockout system was abolished and a group stage with two groups was established. The top two teams from each group advanced to the semi-finals. In 2014, 18 teams entered, and new WSL 2 teams joined the WSL teams. There were three groups of six teams. In 2015, the quarter-final stage was played for the first time. For 2016, the cup changed to a true knockout format and abolished the group stage, a move made in agreement with the clubs to increase excitement and competitiveness. With 19 teams, the bottom six teams played a preliminary round. In the round of 16 that followed, the seeding system was used, so the WSL 1 teams met the WSL 2 teams, who had home field advantage. In 2017–18, a group stage was added again. In 2018–19, as part of the restructuring of women's football, 22 teams entered. The competition was split up into North and South, with each region having one group of six and one group of five. Each team would play one match against each other, with the top two in each group advancing to a quarter-final. The format was similar in 2019–20, with an extra team in the South for a total of 23 teams.

List of finals

Only Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City have won the Women's League Cup. Arsenal, Birmingham City and Chelsea have lost the most finals, finishing as runners-up three times.

Results by team

Teams shown in ''italics'' are no longer in existence.

References

External links

Cup
at fawsl.com {{National football league cups Women's football cup competitions in England Recurring sporting events established in 2011 National association football league cups 2011 establishments in England