WSL Grows With Three Newcomers

Three fresh faces join the top table

The Barclays Women's Super League is about to get bigger - and noisier. Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, and Charlton Athletic have all earned their spots in the top flight for the coming campaign, swelling the division to 14 teams.

Not a bad summer for fans of competitive chaos.

Birmingham City - the champions

Birmingham topped WSL 2 in 2025/26 with 44 points, making them the division's standout act. They even gave everyone a taste of what's to come with a 1-0 Adobe FA Cup quarter-final win at St Andrew's.

Amy Merricks, who took the reins in April 2024, delivered the title in just her second season. Lily Crosthwaite chipped in eight goals and six assists, while Veatriki Sarri added nine goal contributions. Decent.

Crystal Palace - last-day heroes

Palace left it late - clinching promotion on the final day of the WSL 2 season after finishing second. They'll remember their 5-2 loss to City on the closing day of 2024/25 and fancy making a better impression this time around.

Dean Davenport arrived from Rangers, and the big signing? Bethany England, Spurs' all-time top scorer, who brings 89 WSL goals to south London, as OneFootball reports.

Charlton Athletic - the drama queens

Charlton finished third and missed automatic promotion by a whisker. Naturally, they did it the hard way - beating Leicester City on penalties in the play-offs. Peak Charlton.

Karen Hills, in charge since March 2021, can count on goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse (eight clean sheets) and top scorer Gillian Kenney to keep the good times rolling.