Eight Super League clubs announced

The Football Association can today announce the eight clubs that were successful with their applications to be part of the new FA Women’s Super League, launching in March 2011.

The following clubs will be offered two year licences for the 2011 and 2012 seasons:-

Arsenal Ladies FC
Birmingham City Ladies FC
Bristol Academy Women’s FC
Chelsea Ladies FC
Doncaster Rovers Belles
Everton
Lincoln Ladies FC
Liverpool Ladies FC

The FA's Chief Executive, Ian Watmore, said: “We are delighted to be in a position to announce the eight clubs that will take part in the new Women’s Super League. With England’s International Women’s teams doing so well on the world stage and participation levels here at such a high, it’s vital we have a competitive, well structured and commercially sustainable league at the top of the women’s game. We want to ensure our talented players can play their football here without having to look overseas.”

The FA believes the Super League will be the key platform to drive the women’s game forward in England. The Super League concept was developed to enable players in this country to earn a good living from the game whilst allowing Super League clubs to develop new revenue streams and support for women’s football.

With participation levels of women’s football at an all time high – currently 1.1 million girls play football in England – the Super League will play a pivotal role in ensuring the player pathway leads to a competitive, elite structure at the very top of the women’s game.

The FA invited applications for a position in the Super League from all interested parties, and received a total of 16 bids by the application deadline on 18 December 2009.

Interested clubs were asked to apply by completing a Club Development Plan in accordance with specific criteria and guidelines.

This covered four key areas:-

• Financial and business management.
• Commercial and marketing.
• Facilities.
• Players and support staff.

The review process for the bids submitted was robust and thorough and all of the received bids were reviewed in great detail by an adjudication panel which included independent experts in the related business and football fields.

Kelly Simmons, Head of National Game, said of the announcement: “We are delighted with the quality of the bids we received. We are looking forward to working with the eight clubs in the run up to next year’s launch to put in place an exciting, high quality and sustainable new league, taking our women’s game to new heights.”

Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe, commented: “It’s fantastic that the Women’s Super League is a step closer to getting off the ground. Women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports in the country but there is still room for further growth. The Super League will shine the spotlight even brighter on the women’s game, encourage more young women to take up the sport and help develop stars that will represent the ever-improving women’s national team.” 

The FA will meet with all Super League clubs in April to discuss next steps in the preparation process for the 2011 Super League launch.