The Women’s Super League 2 season, which gets under way on Friday when Watford host Burnley, comes with a tweaked format and the introduction of a new fixture. After the expansion of the WSL this summer, only the WSL2 champions are guaranteed promotion and the teams finishing second and third will contest a new, pre-qualifying match to determine who will face the WSL’s second-bottom side in the end-of-season promotion/relegation playoff decider. But which of the 12 sides have the best chances of going up. and who may occupy the relegation places?
Related: The big WSL and WSL2 season preview: Women’s Football Weekly – podcast
Head coach Charlotte Healy. Last season 4th. Predicted finish 2nd.
The division’s top scorers last season, Bristol City’s inconsistency and a tendency to concede too often meant they finished five points off the top three. After a productive-looking transfer window, achieving at least a playoff place feels realistic. The club, owned by the Mercury13 group that also controls FC Como Women and FC Badalona Women in Spain, do not lack ambition. The re-signing of the defender Brooke Aspin from Chelsea is a boost to their backline and they will hope Lotta Lindström can help to replace the goals scored by Lexi Lloyd-Smith, who has left to join the top-flight side Crystal Palace.
Manager Jackie Bachteler. Last season Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish 8th.
Champions of tier three’s northern section after training full-time last term and completing an “invincible” season without a league defeat, Burnley have strengthened with an array of players with first- and second-tier experience, including the former England, Manchester United and Tottenham striker Rachel Williams, the former Chelsea, Reading and Newcastle defender Deanna Cooper and the former Birmingham captain Christie Harrison-Murray. Another, the Northern Ireland goalkeeper Jackie Burns, said: “We all know that it is very challenging [in WSL2] but we know we are capable of competing and actually putting our name out there as Burnley in this league.”
Head coach Willie Kirk. Last season 10th. Predicted finish 11th.
For a couple of anxious weeks in June, there was uncertainty as to whether Durham would reach the start line for this campaign . They issued a plea for investment, warned they would have to fold without an urgent cash injection and were saved by the local businessman Geoff Thompson. That was followed by the appointment of a new coach, Willie Kirk. Durham have been a continuous presence in WSL2 since its formation in 2014 and have frequently exceeded expectations, so underestimating them is dangerous, but for how long can this doggedly determined club defy the odds while the wealthier clubs around them spend significantly by comparison?
Manager David Wright. Last season 9th. Predicted finish 5th.
Ipswich did well in their debut WSL2 campaign last season to steer comfortably clear of relegation by winning their final three league games, and they have carried that momentum into the summer. They have raided the Scottish champions Hearts’ squad for three signings among more than a dozen in total, including Hearts’ top scorer from last season, Georgia Timms. No doubt their technical director, Sean Burt, previously Hearts’ head of recruitment, found his contacts book useful. With the former Spurs midfielder Kit Graham’s loan move made permanent too, the Suffolk club could be dark horses for a top-half push.
Manager Rick Passmoor. Last season Relegated from the WSL. Predicted finish 4th.
Winless since 14 December, Leicester endured a torrid campaign last term and were relegated in agonising fashion when they lost a penalty shootout against Charlton in the inaugural playoff. Inevitably, that prompted a vast number of senior players to depart, including good internationals such as Chantelle Swaby, Jutta Rantala and Hannah Cain. The relegation of the men’s team to League One cannot have helped the side’s resources. Nonetheless, any doom and gloom talk would feel hyperbolic: there remains a decent core of WSL-level players and they have done well to sign Sarah Mayling and Poppy Pritchard, as well as Tottenham’s Araya Dennis on loan.
Manager Tanya Oxtoby. Last season 6th. Predicted finish 1st.
After drawing nearly half their games last season and not scoring enough, Newcastle have attempted to add quality to their forward line in a search for the goalscorers who can fire them to promotion. The arrivals of the former Manchester United forward Martha Thomas from Tottenham, the Republic of Ireland forward Leanne Kiernan from Liverpool and the Scotland striker Kathleen McGovern – who scored 51 times in 65 games for Hibs and has 10 goals in 14 matches for her country – should propel them to the promised land.
Head coach Tom Mallinson. Last season 7th. Predicted finish 6th.
Forest are one of three clubs – with Burnley and Durham – who have hired new coaches, with the appointment of their former men’s under-18s coach Tom Mallinson. The club have said they aim to “push towards the WSL”. They finished mid-table last season and are likely to continue building. The Forest goalkeeper Emily Batty said: “We want to get promoted, that’s the aim of the club. We know that isn’t a given, so it requires a lot of hard work. [It’s about] making sure we’re strong as a collective to get the best out of each other and hopefully help us get to that end-goal, come May.”
Head coach Stephen Healy. Last season 11th. Predicted finish 9th.
Having struggled in the past two years – finishing bottom but getting a reprieve from relegation in 2025, then finishing four points above the drop zone – Sheffield United look likely to face another tricky campaign. Survival depends largely on whether the division’s third-top scorer from last season, Amy Andrews, is still at the club when the transfer window closes on Thursday. She scored nearly half of United’s measly total of 21 goals last season. But they have had a relatively stable, settled summer and have kept the core of their team, and one of their additions – Lucy Quinn – helped Birmingham to win this division last season.
Head coach Simon Parker. Last season 5th. Predicted finish 7th.
With their budget understood to have been cut significantly, Southampton have endured a testing summer, and Sunderland signing Atlanta Primus, Tara Bourne and Fran Stenson will have been a blow after such an encouraging campaign last season and their run of five games without defeat at the end. Only Birmingham and Bristol City scored more WSL2 goals last season than Southampton. They have a good coach in Simon Parker, who has overcome adversity in this division before and defied a small budget at Blackburn, so his side should not be completely discounted.
Head coach Melanie Reay. Last season 8th. Predicted finish 3rd.
Sunderland have been taken over by the Bay Collective and have hired the former Tottenham and West Ham manager Rehanne Skinner as their technical director, so hopes are high that they can mount a challenge and become a force in the women’s game again. Melanie Reay is by far the division’s longest-serving head coach, having been in charge for more than nine years, and her team are finally getting true backing behind the scenes. Elise Hughes feels like a good signing from Palace and there is a feelgood mood that may make the difference.
Head coach Renée Hector. Last season Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish 12th.
Promoted as southern section champions, Watford averaged nearly four goals a game. Their signings include the promising England youth international Vera Jones on loan from Chelsea. They look stronger than when last in the second tier in 2023-24 but staying up will be hugely challenging. Watford’s captain, Megan Chandler, who has been at the club since 2019, said: “The last time we were in this league, we were still part-time. Now we’ve transitioned to full time, that’s a huge step in the right direction. We’ve come on leaps and bounds. [We’d like to] establish ourselves in this league. People may think we’re a ‘yo-yo’ team because we have been previously, so I think this year is important for us to show people we’re not just here to survive, we’re here to compete as well.”
Manager Dan McNamara. Last season Promoted from FAWNL. Predicted finish 10th.
Another team who have transitioned to full time, professional status this summer are Wolves, who triumphed in the FAWNL promotion playoff against Plymouth Argyle in May after finishing second in the northern section, a point behind Burnley. Their revamped squad is a blend of new faces who have played at this level or higher and long-serving club stalwarts who will experience WSL2 for the first time. The step up will feel vast but they recruited well, aided by the arrival of their head of women’s and girls’ football, Russ Fraser, who has overseen recruitment at WSL clubs including Liverpool, Leicester, Reading and West Ham. The additions of Melissa Lawley, Yana Daniëls and Mel Filis, for example, should help them to stay up.
On Friday 4 September at 1pm Suzanne Wrack will be answering readers’ questions about the new WSL season for Guardian Conversations
Related: The big WSL and WSL2 season preview: Women’s Football Weekly – podcast
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Tom Garry. Published 2 Sept 2026, 12:00 pm.
