Can you take a league seriously if it does not have relegation?
That is the question women’s football has to ask itself following reports in The Guardian that clubs will vote at the end of this season on whether to ‘close’ the Women’s Super League. In the English game, avoiding the drop is one of the most compelling narratives of the season. The jeopardy of trying to stay in a division easily rivals a title race. Taking away relegation creates monotony on the pitch for large chunks of games and would put women’s football out of tilt with the rest of the English football landscape.
The proposal itself, one of a number under discussion, would see one team promoted to the WSL every season until it has been expanded from the current 12 teams to 16. During this time, there would be no relegation. By the time this had been achieved in 2030, there would again be a vote on whether to resume relegation.
This is a new era for the women’s game with the WSL and Women’s Championship now being run by the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), who took over from the FA in September.
From the start, they have emphasised a desire to embrace any idea that boosts women’s football in England. The question is who they are boosting the game for.
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