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WSL
Charlton Athletic have earned promotion to the Barclays Women's Super League for the first time since 2007/08, thanks to a sensational penalty shootout victory over Leicester City.
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Charlton Athletic are back in the big time. On 23 May 2026, the south-east London club punched their ticket to the Barclays Women's Super League by seeing off Leicester City in a promotion play-off - and they did it in the most dramatic fashion imaginable.
The match itself finished goalless, which meant penalties. Cue goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse, who apparently decided Leicester weren't scoring at all - saving every single one of their four spot-kicks. Heroic stuff.
Manager Karen Hills deserves enormous credit. She's been at the helm since 2020, and under her watch Charlton have never finished lower than fourth in the Women's Championship. That kind of consistency doesn't happen by accident.
Now she faces her biggest challenge yet: keeping them in the top flight, as WSL Football reports.
Crucially, Charlton have kept the spine of their promotion-winning squad together. Elisha N'Dow and Ellie Mason both remain, while Paula Partido has arrived on loan to bolster midfield options following Katie Bradley's departure.
Newly promoted sides in the WSL have historically struggled, and nobody at The Valley is pretending otherwise. Survival is the stated goal. But this is a club returning to the top division for the first time since 2007/08, with a settled squad and a manager who knows how to win. They might just surprise a few people.
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Copyright 2026 VIASPORT
Eva Hernández, Editor-in-Chief
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