Following multiple appeals from teams that had their bids rejected by the FA, the governing body has finally confirmed the kick-off dates for Tiers 1,2, 3 and 4.
The FA finally confirmed on Tuesday the teams that will take part in the FA WSL and in the FA Women’s Championship, as no team won their appeal to take part in one of those divisions:
Note from The FA. Confirmation 11 teams in FA WSL & FA WC for the 2018/19 season.
Fixtures for both leagues and the Continental Cup will be released Wednesday 1st August at 11am.
FA WNL fixtures will be released tomorrow at midday.
— Rich Laverty (@RichJLaverty) July 24, 2018
FIXTURES INFO: The @FAWSL & The FA Women’s Championship league fixtures commence on weekend of the 8-9 September.
Teams in FA Women’s Super League & FA Women’s Championship will compete in The Continental Tyres Women’s League Cup, which begins on the weekend of the 18-19 August.— Jen O'Neill (@SheKicksdotnet) July 24, 2018
The eleven FA WSL teams are as follows
Arsenal, Birmingham, Brighton*, Bristol, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Reading, West Ham**, Yeovil
*promoted from the second tier,
** promoted from the third tier
The eleven FA Women’s Championship teams are as follows
Aston Villa, Charlton****, Crystal Palace*, Durham, Leicester*, Lewes*, London Bees, Manchester United***, Millwall, Sheffield United**, Tottenham
*promoted from the third tier
** promoted from the fourth tier
*** no senior women football team in the previous season
**** FA WPL play-off winner ( promotion on the pitch)
The third tier (FA WNL) fixtures will be released on Wednesday 25th July, with the FA WSL, FA Women’s Champions and FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup fixtures released on Wednesday 1st August, two weeks before the season starts.
This is finally the end of a long grueling process engineered by the FA’s latest reform that has seen many teams become victims of the changes.
The casualties are as follows
- Sunderland demoted two divisions to the FA WNL bid and appeal not accepted).
- Oxford and Watford demoted one division to the FA WNL (bid not accepted).
- Sheffield FC and Doncaster Belles withdrew from the FA Women’s Championship and demoted one division to the FA WNL.
It has certainly been a messy situation and the transfer window has been and will be very busy until it closes.
Let’s hope there is no more collateral damage to the game after this season.