Women's Super League clubs have voted to expand the top tier of women's football to 14 teams for the 2026-27 season, subject approval from the Football Association (FA).
On Monday, a shareholder meeting saw representatives from clubs in the top two tiers vote in favour of a proposal to expand the league and raise minimum standards. The WSL 2 will remain at 12 teams but will become a fully professional league.
At the end of the 2025-26 season, the top two teams from WSL 2 will be automatically promoted, expanding the top tier to a 14-team league. Following fan backlash over proposals to scrap relegation, a new playoff has been introduced: the 12th-place WSL team will face the third-placed WSL 2 team for a spot in the top division.
From the 2026-27 season onward, the bottom WSL team (14th place) will be automatically relegated, while the WSL 2 champions will be promoted. A playoff will then decide the final spot, with the 13th-placed WSL team facing the WSL 2 runner-up.
The plan is for the WSL to remain at 14 teams, with 12 in WSL 2 for the foreseeable future. The league believes expanding too quickly would create a drop in quality and plan to closely monitor and tweak the changes as needed.
After consulting the calendar, the league is confident that they can accommodate expansion of the WSL, while keeping the integral winter break and factoring in FIFA and UEFA windows. The League Cup will also remain with the same format for at least another season.
In a statement issued by the league, CEO Nikki Doucet called it a "thorough and robust, consultative process backed by research and analysis which explored multiple options that could drive the game forward and help it reach its potential."
She said the expansion of the WSL will "stimulate movement between leagues and through the pyramid which increases opportunities." She added that the play off games "creates distinction for the women's game and introduces a high-profile, high stakes match."
Before these changes can come into effect, they need to be approved by the FA. Their decision is due to be made in the coming days.
From the 2023-24 season, WSL 2 adopted a two-up, two-down system. However, due to financial struggles among some clubs, only one team has been relegated in each of the past two seasons.
Previously, promotion from the third tier -- the FA Women's National League (FAWNL), split into north and south divisions -- was decided by a play-off between the two winners. Now, both division champions are promoted automatically, while the bottom two WSL 2 teams are relegated. This format will continue under the updated structure.
But there will be more opportunity for promotion from the third tier. "The method for these promotions, and any impact further down the pyramid, will be confirmed by the FA in due course," the statement from WSL Football read.
WSL Football explored over 20 different league formats, including options like scrapping relegation, introducing split leagues, the Swiss model, and play-offs to decide the champion. However, it ultimately chose to keep the current structure. Both the WSL and WSL 2 will continue with a double round-robin format, and the top three teams in the WSL qualify for Champions League contention.
The league are also aiming to address the imbalance in game time across teams. WSL players at top clubs, often involved in the latter stages of domestic cups, the Champions League, and international fixtures, are playing significantly more minutes than non-internationals at lower-ranked teams, who typically exit cup competitions early and have fewer overall matches.