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:

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.