News

The Women’s Super League will expand from 12 to 14 teams from the 2026-27 season – but the threat of relegation will remain.

At the end of next season, the top two sides from the second tier, WSL 2, will automatically be promoted.

In addition, the third-placed team in the WSL 2 will face a play-off with the WSL’s bottom side for a place in the top flight.

The plans were approved on Monday following a vote by clubs.

The announcement ends months of speculation about changes following suggestions in March that relegation could temporarily be scrapped in the WSL.

The proposal was presented at a shareholders’ meeting on Monday by WSL Football – the company that assumed control of the top two tiers from the Football Association in August 2024.

The FA will now meet to formally sign off the changes, which must be implemented before 31 July. This is seen as a formality following the clubs’ votes.

Currently, only the WSL 2 winners earn promotion, with the bottom club in the WSL relegated – essentially one up and one down.

These are the changes that will take place next season to achieve expansion of the league:

However, that will change as the WSL expands from 12 teams to 14 teams for the 26-27 season. From then onwards, there will be one automatic promotion spot for the winner of WSL 2, with the bottom team in the WSL relegated.

In addition, there will be a play-off between second bottom of the WSL and runners up in WSL 2.

The FA will decide the next steps for the lower tiers.

It is expected the winners from the National League Premier Division North and the National League Premier Division South will gain automatic promotion into the WSL 2 next season.

The runners-up from those third-tier divisions would then take part in a play-off match for the final promotion spot in the second tier.

It is expected there will be two teams relegated from WSL 2 from 26-27 onwards, and two automatic promotions from the third tiers.

Expansion is just the first step in WSL Football’s 10-year plan.

Substantial changes have been made to the licence criteria to improve minimum standards as WSL Football aims for two fully-professional top tiers in England.

Requirements now include improved facilities, extra player contact hours, additional staffing and focus on club academies.

Analysis carried out by the body showed there were not enough games where the outcome had an effect on standings in the WSL. There is a belief that several clubs have stayed in the top flight for too long without threat of relegation and have not progressed as a result.

In the second tier, some clubs have elite standards, others have semi-professional environments and many have toyed between the two in the past decade.

Expanding the WSL means clubs will play 26 matches, not 22, from the 26-27 season. But space in the calendar is already limited.

Schedule constraints include Fifa’s Women’s Club World Cup, a competition that will run every four years starting from 2028, the introduction of a Women’s Champions Cup from 2026 and the expansion of the Women’s World Cup to 48 teams from 2031.

In addition, Uefa Women’s Champions League semi-finals take place on weekends – unlike in the men’s game – and WSL matches are not played on the same weekend as the Women’s FA Cup.

There are also guidelines around player welfare including a six-week break after a major tournament, a two-week winter break, a maximum of two midweek games in a row and no midweek games directly following an international break. This all reduces the available dates to play the additional games.

Plus WSL clubs must navigate fixture clashes with their male team counterparts in shared stadiums, as Arsenal experienced in November.

Discussions take place between governing bodies – Uefa, Fifa, the Premier League and the FA – but they often each have their own priorities.

Meanwhile, preferred kick-off times and broadcasting requests can cause discord among clubs.

The stringent licence revisions have caused backlash.

Blackburn Women withdrew from the WSL 2 after claiming the financial requirements “can no longer be sustained”.

Third-tier club Wolves Women did not apply for a WSL 2 licence as owners were unwilling to move to a full-time model, as is required.

Barnsley Women, playing in the fourth tier, folded in June because of financial pressures, claiming “funding does not trickle down sufficiently”.

Sources at WSL Football say it is working closely with National League clubs to raise minimum standards but the company is aware of short-term financial pressures.

There are also concerns WSL clubs will continue to build a bigger gap.

Chelsea’s sale of their women’s team to themselves – a clever move to navigate Profit and Sustainability Rules – raised questions on whether more financial regulations should be put in place in the women’s game.

The WSL currently has a “soft” salary cap, allowing clubs to spend up to 40% of their revenue on player salaries.

A stricter financial regulation has not been ruled out for the future but WSL Football is wary of stifling growth.

WSL Football chief executive Nikkie Doucet says the “priority was to find a route that would benefit the whole women’s game pyramid” and they hope these changes are the “next evolution” in professionalism.

She added: “We believe this will raise minimum standards, create distinction and incentivise investment across the board.

“The introduction of a promotion-relegation play-off creates distinction for the women’s game and introduces a high-profile, high-stakes match.”

WSL expansion is likely to be welcomed by clubs such as Birmingham City and Newcastle United, who have had an influx in investment recently.

Great Britain’s Dan Evans made an impressive start to his Queen’s tournament by beating world number 13 Frances Tiafoe 7-5 6-2 to reach the last 16.

The victory was Evans’ first against a top-20 player since since he defeated world number 12 Alex de Minaur at the 2023 Davis Cup.

Evans is looking to rebuild his ranking, having dropped from a career-high 21st in the world a couple of years ago to 199th.

Given a wildcard entry at Queen’s he was handed a tough start against American Tiafoe, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open this year.

Evans dropped more than 110 ranking spots last year when he opted to focus on partnering Andy Murray in the doubles at the Paris Olympics, so it was apt that this impressive display came at the arena named after the Scot.

The pair reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, with the match the last of Murray’s long and illustrious career.

Asked afterwards about how much Murray has inspired his own career, Evans said: “Not just mine but the whole of British tennis.

“He always has time for everyone and it’s fitting he has an arena called after him.”

Evans started strongly against Tiafoe, fending off a break point before securing the break himself at 3-3.

Tiafoe broke back immediately when Evans overcooked his forehand and momentum appeared to swing the American’s way in a 10-minute spell where his opponent had little answer to him.

But Evans, encouraged by the vocal home crowd, dug in and battled from 5-4 down to secure a second break before closing out the set – helped on his way by coming out on top of a gruelling 37-shot rally.

The momentum was now with Evans and a five-game winning streak put him 2-0 up at the start of the second set.

Evans got a stroke of luck at 3-1 up when his forehand clipped the net cord to drop over and secure a double break.

From then on he closed out the match before receiving a standing ovation from the crowd.

Even when a US Open throws up as many talking points as last week’s 125th edition at Oakmont did, the name that still dominated discussion was Rory McIlroy.

The Masters champion never contended on this beast of a course, which produced a surprise and fairytale winner in JJ Spaun when he holed a monster putt to thunderously seal his triumph in truly dramatic style.

Britons Robert MacIntrye and Tyrrell Hatton emerged as genuine major contenders. They did so on a capricious course that, heading into the final round, produced a leaderboard with only one major winner in the top 10.

During a soggy final day Spaun overcame a nightmare start to storm to victory while forlorn contenders such as 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott and Sam Burns were subjected to a form of golfing brutality that might disturb their sleep for months to come.

“What’s eating at Rory?” was the question so many people want to discuss, especially after his terse news conference following Saturday’s third round in Pennsylvania.

It was the first time he had spoken to the media post round at a major since that never-to-be-forgotten outpouring of relief and joy which followed his thrilling play-off win at Augusta National.

McIlroy blanked reporters after every round at last month’s US PGA Championship, where news emerged that his driver had failed a conforming test at Quail Hollow. Its face was worn out.

Nothing sinister in that, but the test results are supposed to remain confidential.

The player was irked that this was reported, initially by the tournament’s in-house radio station. It never mentioned that the driver of eventual champion Scottie Scheffler had also failed its test.

Never before had McIlroy failed to speak post round for an entire major.

Although he spoke on the Tuesday prior to the US Open he was noticeably tetchy and short with reporters, especially those who brought up the driver issue.

His dark mood seemed at odds with someone who was expected to carry a sunny disposition for evermore, having finally reached all-time great status with his Grand Slam success at the year’s first major.

But how does it move on, when the task that had consumed him and driven him for more than a decade was finally completed? What forces someone in such a position to go back to the well of intense practice and self scrutiny?

“Physically I feel like my game is there, it is just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself,” McIlroy said after his 67 at Oakmont last Sunday.

It was the joint lowest score on that dramatic final day. But one of the reasons he was suddenly speaking more openly, and therefore more like his usual self, was less to do with finally playing well and more about who he was talking to.

Unlike the previous day, there were only a handful of reporters waiting to collect his thoughts – BBC Northern Ireland and representatives from the Irish press. People who have followed every twist and turn of McIlroy’s remarkable career.

Those familiar faces carry the five-time major champion’s respect.

He was open enough to admit: “I climbed my Everest in April and I think after you do something like that you’ve got to make your way back down and look for another mountain to climb.”

By contrast, the previous day he had been surrounded by a swarm of reporters, predominantly American. McIlroy was offhand, cold and curt.

“I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do,” he said. He came across as entitled and arrogant, even though the context of this comment was merely in terms of his dealings with the media.

No player is compelled to speak after a round unlike in other sports, such as football and tennis where such obligations are mandatory regardless of result. As long as such obligations remain voluntary he will exercise his right not to speak.

So golf administrators and their broadcast partners must be considering whether they should adopt a similar stance to tennis. Collin Morikawa blanked reporters after losing the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March.

The tours, though, would struggle to impose mandatory interviews because they are organisations effectively run by the players themselves.

Not so the majors. Augusta National, the PGA of America, USGA and R&A – who are responsible for the Masters, US PGA, US Open and The Open respectively – might, and probably should, consider making such a regime a condition of entry.

This is especially the case while there is an increasing perception of a growing distance between top players and a mainstream media that can do so much to oil the PR machine that helps feed such gargantuan bank balances.

And it seems in many cases, the more money they get, the less approachable these players become. They are also seemingly more prone to temper tantrums.

In the past two majors there have been foul-mouthed, club-throwing outbursts from several players – including the usually mild-mannered world number one Scheffler, who tossed his putter on the 15th green after a missed putt. Courses and locker rooms have felt the full force of fury from some of the best remunerated athletes on the planet.

McIlroy, by no means the main offender, lobbed a club and smashed a tee marker during this US Open, which was uncharacteristic from someone who in the injury-induced absence of Tiger Woods is the sport’s greatest ambassador and most popular player.

While not a great look, he had clearly, and understandably, reached boiling point last week. Reporting of ‘driver-gate’ and his perceived lack of respect for Jack Nicklaus, for not telling the legendary American he would not be playing in his recent Memorial tournament – which had never been on his intended schedule – had irked him.

His game was in decline. He was struggling to find a new driver that fitted his feels and the drive to fix such problems on the range. Despite super-human achievement, he is only human.

McIlroy had reached a breaking point. It can happen to anyone, even someone who is usually so giving and interesting in his interviews.

He did not want to speak after Saturday’s round, but he did and in so doing broke his silent treatment of the media.

What emerged from that huddle did not show him in his best light, but it might prove a reset point.

And by the end of the week his driver was starting to behave. It is the key attribute to his golfing prowess.

On Sunday night he was much more his old self, speaking of his desire to get back to Europe, where a new house at Wentworth awaits as well as an Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland.

He plays the Travellers in Connecticut this week and then he is done with America for a while. He will take a break before July’s Scottish Open and then a potentially tumultuous end to the men’s major season on the Antrim coast a week later.

Even when a US Open throws up as many talking points as last week’s 125th edition at Oakmont did, the name that still dominated discussion was Rory McIlroy.

The Masters champion never contended on this beast of a course, which produced a surprise and fairytale winner in JJ Spaun when he holed a monster putt to thunderously seal his triumph in truly dramatic style.

Britons Robert MacIntrye and Tyrrell Hatton emerged as genuine major contenders. They did so on a capricious course that, heading into the final round, produced a leaderboard with only one major winner in the top 10.

During a soggy final day Spaun overcame a nightmare start to storm to victory while forlorn contenders such as 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott and Sam Burns were subjected to a form of golfing brutality that might disturb their sleep for months to come.

“What’s eating at Rory?” was the question so many people want to discuss, especially after his terse news conference following Saturday’s third round in Pennsylvania.

It was the first time he had spoken to the media post round at a major since that never-to-be-forgotten outpouring of relief and joy which followed his thrilling play-off win at Augusta National.

McIlroy blanked reporters after every round at last month’s US PGA Championship, where news emerged that his driver had failed a conforming test at Quail Hollow. Its face was worn out.

Nothing sinister in that, but the test results are supposed to remain confidential.

The player was irked that this was reported, initially by the tournament’s in-house radio station. It never mentioned that the driver of eventual champion Scottie Scheffler had also failed its test.

Never before had McIlroy failed to speak post round for an entire major.

Although he spoke on the Tuesday prior to the US Open he was noticeably tetchy and short with reporters, especially those who brought up the driver issue.

His dark mood seemed at odds with someone who was expected to carry a sunny disposition for evermore, having finally reached all-time great status with his Grand Slam success at the year’s first major.

But how does it move on, when the task that had consumed him and driven him for more than a decade was finally completed? What forces someone in such a position to go back to the well of intense practice and self scrutiny?

“Physically I feel like my game is there, it is just mentally getting myself in the right frame of mind to get the best out of myself,” McIlroy said after his 67 at Oakmont last Sunday.

It was the joint lowest score on that dramatic final day. But one of the reasons he was suddenly speaking more openly, and therefore more like his usual self, was less to do with finally playing well and more about who he was talking to.

Unlike the previous day, there were only a handful of reporters waiting to collect his thoughts – BBC Northern Ireland and representatives from the Irish press. People who have followed every twist and turn of McIlroy’s remarkable career.

Those familiar faces carry the five-time major champion’s respect.

He was open enough to admit: “I climbed my Everest in April and I think after you do something like that you’ve got to make your way back down and look for another mountain to climb.”

By contrast, the previous day he had been surrounded by a swarm of reporters, predominantly American. McIlroy was offhand, cold and curt.

“I’ve earned the right to do whatever I want to do,” he said. He came across as entitled and arrogant, even though the context of this comment was merely in terms of his dealings with the media.

No player is compelled to speak after a round unlike in other sports, such as football and tennis where such obligations are mandatory regardless of result. As long as such obligations remain voluntary he will exercise his right not to speak.

So golf administrators and their broadcast partners must be considering whether they should adopt a similar stance to tennis. Collin Morikawa blanked reporters after losing the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in March.

The tours, though, would struggle to impose mandatory interviews because they are organisations effectively run by the players themselves.

Not so the majors. Augusta National, the PGA of America, USGA and R&A – who are responsible for the Masters, US PGA, US Open and The Open respectively – might, and probably should, consider making such a regime a condition of entry.

This is especially the case while there is an increasing perception of a growing distance between top players and a mainstream media that can do so much to oil the PR machine that helps feed such gargantuan bank balances.

And it seems in many cases, the more money they get, the less approachable these players become. They are also seemingly more prone to temper tantrums.

In the past two majors there have been foul-mouthed, club-throwing outbursts from several players – including the usually mild-mannered world number one Scheffler, who tossed his putter on the 15th green after a missed putt. Courses and locker rooms have felt the full force of fury from some of the best remunerated athletes on the planet.

McIlroy, by no means the main offender, lobbed a club and smashed a tee marker during this US Open, which was uncharacteristic from someone who in the injury-induced absence of Tiger Woods is the sport’s greatest ambassador and most popular player.

While not a great look, he had clearly, and understandably, reached boiling point last week. Reporting of ‘driver-gate’ and his perceived lack of respect for Jack Nicklaus, for not telling the legendary American he would not be playing in his recent Memorial tournament – which had never been on his intended schedule – had irked him.

His game was in decline. He was struggling to find a new driver that fitted his feels and the drive to fix such problems on the range. Despite super-human achievement, he is only human.

McIlroy had reached a breaking point. It can happen to anyone, even someone who is usually so giving and interesting in his interviews.

He did not want to speak after Saturday’s round, but he did and in so doing broke his silent treatment of the media.

What emerged from that huddle did not show him in his best light, but it might prove a reset point.

And by the end of the week his driver was starting to behave. It is the key attribute to his golfing prowess.

On Sunday night he was much more his old self, speaking of his desire to get back to Europe, where a new house at Wentworth awaits as well as an Open at Royal Portrush in his native Northern Ireland.

He plays the Travellers in Connecticut this week and then he is done with America for a while. He will take a break before July’s Scottish Open and then a potentially tumultuous end to the men’s major season on the Antrim coast a week later.