The Women's Super League preview

The 2021/22 season of the Women’s Super League is set to get underway on Friday 3^rd September. With exclusive television deals, grandiose stadium openers and a summer of spectacular signings, should we be expecting an even bigger and better season?

The answer is of course, yes. As the women’s game has attracted more interest over the past couple of years, mainly thanks to the huge success of the 2019 Women’s World Cup, the hype for, and ultimately the amount of money within the Women’s Super League has rocketed.

At the end of June, Sky Sports announced that they had signed a 3 year deal with the FA to exclusively broadcast up to 44 WSL matches live per season. It wasn’t until the 2019/20 season when the FA Player, an online live streaming platform dedicated to women’s football, was launched that the women’s game truly became accessible.

Considering this, the WSL’s newfound partnership with the broadcasting giant highlights the enormous and rapid growth of the league which will only continue as a wider audience will now tune into matches.

Whilst the majority of the 12 teams usually host their fixtures at grounds which are merely a fraction of the size of their male counterparts’, the opening weekend of the season will be different.

Goodison Park, the Amex Stadium and the Emirates Stadium will provide centre stage for clashes between Everton and Manchester City, Brighton and West Ham and Arsenal and Chelsea. 

Although in the past it has been a rare occurrence to see WSL fixtures played out at clubs’ main stadiums, several other matches throughout the season are also set to be hosted at them, offering a chance for bigger crowds and more publicity.

This week it was announced that newly promoted Leicester will play eight of their home fixtures at the King Power Stadium – a pioneering move that we can certainly expect to be adopted by other clubs in the future to increase cohesion between their male and female teams. 

The summer transfer window has proved a busy time for the Women’s Super League, with international and home-grown talent in abundance within each of the teams as they kick-off the new season’s campaign. But who must we really consider as serious contenders for the 21/22 titLast season’s runners-up Manchester City have certainly had a successful summer of signings. The departure of American duo Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle has made way for the arrival of Australian pair Hayley Raso and Alanna Kennedy who have both previously enjoyed successful spells in the league with Everton and Tottenham. 

17 year old England youth international Ruby Mace has also joined the club on a three year deal alongside Jamaican star Khadija Shaw and Champions’ League winners Barcelona’s Vicky Losada. With the absence of England stars Lucy Bronze and Ellen White through injury as the season kicks off, the Citizens will look to their new additions to give them a strong start to their WSL campaign as they aim for the top spot in what will be a tight race.

Current title-holders Chelsea have made few changes to their winning squad over the summer. With the recent arrival of striker Lauren James, younger sister of Chelsea defender Reece James, Emma Hayes is undoubtedly spoiled for choice when it comes to fielding a team.

The likes of Fran Kirby, Sam Kerr and Pernille Harder who are all stars in their own right will have to battle it out amongst themselves to earn their place on the pitch.

Perhaps the lack of new additions to the squad in comparison with other sides in the league will work as an advantage for the Blues who will be looking to solidify last season’s performance and ultimately retain their title for a third year running, for which they are still favourites to do so.

As well as welcoming international sensations Nikita Parris and Mana Iwabuchi, Arsenal have recently been joined by new head coach, Jonas Eidevall. After a very disjointed 20/21 season under Joe Montemorro, fans of the Gunners will be looking to Eidevall to provide consistency and a step closer to their first trophy since 2018.

The north London side have so far been successful in their Champion’s League campaign, comfortably beating Slavia Prague 3-0 in the first leg of the competition. However, with some gaps in their midfield due to the departures of Danielle Van de Donk and Jill Roord and the absence of Jordan Nobbs after sustaining an ankle injury, there is uncertainty as to whether this sort of performance will consistently be replicated in the WSL.

One of the most surprising but refreshing campaigns of the 20/21 WSL season came from Everton who ultimately finished in fifth place, but gave a consistent and highly exciting performance – one that they certainly have ambition to improve on based upon their nine summer signings.

Notably, the Toffees have welcomed back England international Toni Duggan after a lengthy stint playing in Spain. The winger will pair her experience with fellow England team-mate Izzy Christiansen in a bid to achieve Champions League qualification for the side.

The league’s most expensive transfer, 18 year old Swedish sensation Hanna Bennison, will also be part of this season’s exciting Everton squad after a six figure deal was recently agreed with FC Rosengård.