The Football Association Women's Challenge Cup Competition, now known as the Women’s FA Cup, began in 1970 and is the largest and most prestigious domestic knockout competition within the women’s game.

Clubs are eligible to enter the competition provided they compete in the top division of a women’s county league or higher and more than 260 clubs regularly enter annually.

In 2015, The Final was played at Wembley Stadium for the first time reflecting the incredible growth in interest in the women’s game, attracting a then record crowd of 30,710.

The Final attendance has grown year-on-year since, with the 2019 Final between Manchester City and West Ham United attracting a new record crowd of 43,264.

The FA Women’s Super League was restructured and re-branded ahead of the 2018-19 season.

Now fully professional, it is a 12-team competition for the top teams in the country.

The season has moved to a more traditional football calendar with matches taking place from September.

In March 2019, Barclays was unveiled as the league’s title sponsor with effect from the 2019-20 season.

Barclays FA WSL in 2019-20:

Arsenal
Birmingham City
Brighton & Hove Albion
Bristol City
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Reading
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United

The third and fourth tiers of the women’s pyramid, the FA Women’s National League, comprises six divisions: Northern Premier Division, Southern Premier Division, Division 1 North, Division 1 Midlands, Division 1 South East, Division 1 South West.

Northern Premier in 2019-20:

Burnley
Derby County
Fylde
Huddersfield Town
Hull City
Loughborough Foxes
Middlesbrough
Nottingham Forest
Sheffield FC
Stoke City
Sunderland AFC
West Bromwich Albion

Southern Premier in 2019-20:

Cardiff City
Chichester City
Crawley Wasps
Gillingham
Keynsham Town
MK Dons
Oxford United
Plymouth Argyle
Portsmouth 
Hounslow
Watford
Yeovil Town

Division One Midlands in 2019-20:

Bedworth United
Birmingham & West Mids
Burton Albion
Doncaster Rovers Belles
Leafield Athletic
Leicester United
Long Eaton United
Lincoln City (Nettleham)
Solihull Moors
Sporting Khalsa
The New Saints
Wolverhampton Wanderers

Division One North in 2019-20:

Barnsley
Bolton Wanderers
Bradford City
Brighouse Town
Chester le Street
Chorley
Durham Cestria
Leeds United
Liverpool Feds
Newcastle United
Norton & Stockton
Stockport County

Division One South East in 2019-20:

Actonians
AFC Wimbledon
Billericay Town
AFC Basildon
Cambridge City
Cambridge United
Enfield Town
Ipswich Town
Kent United
Leyton Orient
Norwich City
Stevenage

Division One South West in 2019-20:

Brislington
Buckland Athletic
Cheltenham Town
Chesham United
Exeter City
Larkhall Athletic
Maidenhead Utd
Poole Town
Southampton FC Women
Southampton WFC
Swindon Town

The competition structure for women’s open-age football is known as the Women’s Football Pyramid and is regulated by the Women’s Football Pyramid Regulations (see diagram and PDF below).
New teams join the competition structure at County League step W5. A promotion pool is operated between County and Regional Leagues. Teams gain promotion from Regional Leagues step W3 to The FA Women’s Premier League (FA WPL) step W2 by winning their respective leagues.
The FA WPL determines its overall champion through a play-off match between the Southern and Northern Premier Division winners. The champions are promoted to The FA Women’s Super League (FA WSL), subject to meeting licence criteria.

Download a copy of the Women's Football Pyramid from the resource block below.