FA Women's National League

Before the National League, women's teams nationally had competed in the WFA Cup (Women's FA Cup) since 1970, and there were English regional leagues, but this was the first regular nationwide competition of its kind.

The Women's National League was inaugurated in the 1991–92 season by the Women's Football Association (WFA),[1] with a monetary grant from the Sports Council.[2] Eight teams played in the top flight in that year. From the League's foundation, it consisted of a national premier division and two lower divisions, the Northern and Southern Divisions, whose winners each season were promoted to the top flight.

Doncaster Belles were the first champions of the Women's National League in 1991–92

From 1991–92 until 2012–13, the national premier division was above the Northern and Southern Divisions. Since 1991–92, the Northern and Southern Divisions have run on an equal basis with promotion, and this continues today. The terms Women's Premiership and Ladies Premiership were generally used for the National Division only.

After the League's third season, the FA assumed responsibility for the competition and renamed it, beginning with the 1994–95 FA Women's Premier League (FA WPL).[3]

The Women's Premier League remained level 1 and 2 of women's football until the end of the 2009–10 season. From 2000 until 2008, the WPL champions competed in the annual FA Women's Community Shield.

The National Division's most successful clubs were Arsenal (12 titles), Croydon (3 titles), Doncaster Belles (2 titles and 7 times runners-up), Everton (1 title and 5 times runners-up), and Sunderland (3 titles at league level 2).

The Women's Premier League lost several clubs prior to the 2010–11 season and the National Division was demoted to level 2, due to the creation of the FA WSL in 2011.[4] (The WSL was a summer league for its first six years, as opposed to the WPL's winter format.) Strangely, the lower divisions were still given the name "Premier League" for eight more seasons. The number of clubs competing in the Northern and Southern Divisions decreased from 12 to 10. The National Division decreased from 12 clubs to eight (2010–11), then increased to 10 clubs (2011–12 and 2012–13).

After the WPL National Division's three seasons at level 2, that division was scrapped after 2012–13, due to the FA's decision to add another WSL division, WSL 2, for its 2014 season, which included some clubs that moved from the WPL.

The only divisions in 2013–14 with WPL branding were the Northern and Southern Divisions at league level 3.

From the 2014–15 season, the Women's Premier League incorporated the four existing Combination Women's Football Leagues (level 4), as the Premier League's "Division One", with four groups of Division One leagues: North, Midlands, South East and South West.[5]

2014 saw a significant change with the operation of the league moving away from The FA with an independent Management Committee elected by the clubs to run league operations and administer the competition on their behalf.

The FA proposed rebranding the WPL collectively as the Women's Championship League,[6] but instead the clubs elected to keep the name Women's Premier League until 2018, thereafter it became known as The FA Women’s National League - still an FA branded league but run independently from The FA.

The winners of the Northern and Southern Divisions have played each other since 2014–15 in a single play-off at a neutral venue, to win the Women's Premier League/National League championship and promotion into the level 2 division. This was the first instance of promotion from the WPL to the WSL when the first play-off occurred in 2015. In that year's play-off between Portsmouth and Sheffield F.C. at Stratford FC's ground, Sheffield won through a stoppage-time goal.

The six divisions were renamed the Women's National League from 2018–19.

Northern/Southern Division champions

Level 2 champions:

Season	Northern Division	Southern Division
1991–92	Bronte	Arsenal
1992–93	Aston Villa	District Line
1993–94	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Bromley Borough
1994–95	Aston Villa	Maidstone Tigresses
1995–96	Tranmere Rovers	Southampton Saints
1996–97	Bradford City	Berkhamsted
1997–98	Ilkeston Town	Southampton Saints
1998–99	Aston Villa	Reading Royals
1999–2000	Sunderland	Barry Town
2000–01	Leeds United	Brighton & Hove Albion
2001–02	Birmingham City	Fulham
2002–03	Aston Villa	Bristol Rovers
2003–04	Liverpool	Bristol City
2004–05	Sunderland	Chelsea
2005–06	Blackburn Rovers	Cardiff City
2006–07	Liverpool	Watford
2007–08	Nottingham Forest	Fulham
2008–09	Sunderland	Millwall
2009–10	Liverpool	Barnet

Tottenham won the Southern Division and the 2016–17 promotion playoff

Level 3 champions:

Automatic promotion ended in 2012–13. From 2014–15 onwards, the club marked in bold won the League championship play-off between the Northern and Southern Division winners, and won promotion to WSL 2/Women's Championship.

Season	Northern Division	Southern Division
2010–11[lower-alpha 1]	Aston Villa	Charlton Athletic
2011–12[lower-alpha 2]	Manchester City	Portsmouth
2012–13[lower-alpha 3]	Sheffield	Reading
2013–14	Sheffield	Coventry City
2014–15	Sheffield	Portsmouth
2015–16	Sporting Club Albion	Brighton & Hove Albion
2016–17	Blackburn Rovers	Tottenham Hotspur
2017–18[lower-alpha 4]	Blackburn Rovers	Charlton Athletic
2018–19[lower-alpha 5]	Blackburn Rovers	Coventry United
2019–20	Not awarded (COVID-19 pandemic)
2020–21	Not awarded (COVID-19 pandemic)
2021–22	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Southampton
2022–23	Nottingham Forest	Watford

1. 2011: Promotion of both champions and runners-up Coventry City and Cardiff City to National Division, after WSL's formation
2. 2012: Promotion of both champions to National Division
3. 2013: National Division ended. Reading, Millwall and Yeovil were elected to WSL 2
4. 2018: West Ham United awarded FA WSL licence; Charlton, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Lewes promoted to Championship
5. 2019: Promotion of both champions to Championship, as FA WSL increased to 12 clubs

London Bees v Sheffield F.C. Ladies in 2017

West Ham United L.F.C. in the Southern Division in 2017

Currently there are 71 clubs in the League, with two tiers and six divisions: the Northern and Southern Premier Divisions (level 3 in the football pyramid), and the regional Division One North, Division One Midlands, Division One South East and Division One South West (all level 4).[7]

These numbers have varied historically due to the changing structure of women's football.

The main cup competition of the National League is the FA Women's National League Cup, a knock-out competition involving all of the teams within the League's six divisions. Due to the changing structure of women's football, this competition has historically varied from a straight knock-out competition to a competition with a preliminary group stage before reaching the knock-out stage. The first Cup-winners were Arsenal in the 1991–92 WFA Women's National League Cup. The first winners of a Cup without top-flight teams were Barnet F.C. Ladies in the 2010–11 FA Women's Premier League Cup.

The FA Women's National League Plate was introduced in the 2014–15 season (as the Women's Premier League Plate). Under the current format, the teams that are eliminated from the opening round of the League Cup are entered into the Plate.

The league's sponsors have included AXA (until 2004), Nationwide Building Society (2004–2007) and Tesco (2007–?).

• FA Women's Premier League National Division
• FA Women's National League Cup

• The Football Association – Women's National League official site