Excl. for @sport.theguardian.com: A plan for WSL academy sides to join the #FAWNL from 2027 has received FAWNL board approval, but the idea of a mid-season split has been dropped. The revised plans will require FA board approval. Final decision expected in July. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

New: Uefa has raised the minimum qualifications that coaches will be required to hold, to coach women's teams playing in Uefa comps. from 1 June 2028: - Head coach will need the Pro licence (up from A licence). - Assistant coach, A licence (up from B). Transitional period begins now. #UWCL #UWEC

Uefa has handed a lifetime ban from all football-related activity to Petr Vlachovsky, the Czech coach who used a hidden camera to secretly film his female players in their changing rooms. More details here for @sport.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Exclusive interview for @sport.theguardian.com: Malaika Meena on why she is collecting 1,000s of spare football boots & kit to donate to schoolchildren in Tanzania, wanting to form an official charity and her loan spell at Ipswich from Bristol City #BarclaysWSL2 www.theguardian.com/football/202...

News: Ella Toone, Aggie Beever-Jones and Freya Godfrey are all back in the England squad after injuries, as Sarina Wiegman names her 25-player squad for June's qualifiers against Spain and Ukraine. #Lionesses

Manchester City's Bunny Shaw is named as the WSL player of the season. #WSLFootballAwards

Birmingham City's Lily Crosthwaite is named as the WSL2 player of the year. #WSLFootballAwards

Georgia Stanway will join Arsenal at the start of July on a free transfer from Bayern Munich, the Guardian understands. Subject to her passing a medical, everything has been agreed for the England midfielder to move to north London. #ArsenalWFC #BarclaysWSL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

"When I reflect on my Chelsea career, I just feel happy. Happy that it happened, and I feel so grateful to have played for this club for six years and won as many trophies as we could." Sam Kerr announces she is leaving Chelsea this summer. More follows @sport.theguardian.com

Underwater treadmills, bespoke-made recovery shakes and even personalised chopsticks - a look around Manchester City Women's new £10m headquarters, for @sport.theguardian.com #ManCity #barclayswsl www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Dario Vidosic on Brighton reaching the #WomensFACup final: “It’s a sense of joy for everyone else. When there are these moments, I don’t want attention to me, I want to give it to the players who deserve it, for the club for everything they provide for us, for the staff for everything they give up."

Exclusive: Bunny Shaw is poised to leave Man City this summer to pursue a new challenge. Shaw had been close to a new deal in March and told the club she would like to stay but City haven't matched rival packages. The length of contract has been a sticking point. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Player-by-player ratings for @theguardian.com on Manchester City’s 25-26 WSL title-winning squad. No guesses who scores the highest mark... #barclayswsl www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Analysis for @sport.theguardian.com after Arsenal are knocked out of the Champions League by very fine margins but there is one key area they absolutely need to work on... Defending set-pieces. #ArsenalWFC #UWCL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Breaking: Birmingham City are promoted back to the WSL as WSL2 champions! They've won 2-0 away against promotion rivals Charlton, who will now have to settle for 23 May's play-off game at home to Leicester City. #BarclaysWSL2 #BCFCwomen

Breaking: Crystal Palace have been promoted back to the WSL at the first time of asking. Jo Potter's team have been in tremendous form since November, winning 12 of their final 14 games of the season to come from nowhere to finish in the top two. They won 6-1 today. #BarclaysWSL2 #BarclaysWSL

Millie Bright has announced her immediate retirement from football, calling an end to a trophy-laden career which has seen her win 20 trophies with Chelsea including eight Women's Super League titles and six Women's FA Cups. #ChelseaFCW

Miami will host the final phase of the next Women’s Champions Cup from 27-31 January 2027, Fifa has confirmed.

Sonia Bompastor called for goalline technology in the WSL after Sam Kerr was denied a hat-trick at Goodison. SB: "We won [4-1] so it didn’t create a lot of conversations, but... We need the technology for things to be fair for everyone.” #ChelseaFCW #BarclaysWSL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

New: Burnley and Watford are both promoted to WSL2 as champions of their respective #FAWNL leagues. Their applications for licences were accepted.

Match report for @sport.theguardian.com as the European champions beat the world champions 1-0 #Lionesses www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Daniel Levy, the former executive chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, was paid more during the 2024-25 season than all 64 players and staff at the club’s women’s team combined, the publication of their latest financial accounts has shown. #BarclaysWSL #SpursWomen www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Aston Villa & Manchester United are in 28-30 May's edition of World Sevens Football in Brentford, London. All 8 teams will be English this time. The reduced prize pot is $1.5m overall. Players will get 50% of prize money, clubs 50%. The final is the day before the FA Cup final. #WorldSevensFootball

Done deal: Liverpool have reached an agreement to sign the Germany forward Vivien Endemann from 1 July when her contract at Wolfsburg expires. #LFCwomen #BarclaysWSL

Sue Day, the FA’s director of women’s football, has defended plans to radically change the structure of the lower leagues, including introducing four WSL academy [PGA] sides into the third tier, saying she believes the game is at a “crucial turning point”. #FAWNL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

The Women's National League play-offs will be held at Burton's Pirelli Stadium between 2-4 May over the bank holiday weekend, the FA confirms: - Sat 2nd May, Div 1 Midlands v Div 1 North (tier 4) - Sun 3rd May, Div 1 SE v Div 1 SW (tier 4) - Mon 4th May, Northern Premier v Southern Premier #FAWNL

Exclusive by @tomjgarry.bsky.social: New FA proposals include four WSL academy sides entering tier three of the pyramid from 2027, plus the introduction of a mid-season split similar to that used in Scotland

Exclusive for @sport.theguardian.com on major structural changes planned in the #FAWNL: - Four WSL academy sides could join tier three from 2027 - Introduction of a mid-season split similar to Scotland - Around £1m of investment pledged - Enhanced loan system www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Story for @sport.theguardian.com as Sunderland Women are to be taken over by Bay Collective www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Total agents fees paid by the current WSL2 clubs between 4 Feb 2025 & 3 Feb 2026: Palace £101k Newcastle £93k Birmingham City £68k Bristol City £57k Southampton £35k Sheffield United £34k Nottingham Forest £32k Charlton £32k Sunderland £30k Ipswich £21k Portsmouth £14k Durham £12k Total £529k

Total agents fees paid by WSL clubs between 4/Feb/2025 and 3/Feb/2026: Chelsea £1.08m Man City £510k London City £467k Arsenal £446k Villa £265k Everton £211k Man Utd £197k Brighton £156k Spurs £153k Liverpool £116k Leicester £101k West Ham £97k Total: £3.8m

Manchester United's wage bill was only around half that of their WSL rivals Arsenal last season, the publication of #MUwomen's latest financial accounts has revealed. United also recorded a pre-tax profit of £510k. More details here for @sport.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Marc Skinner tries to gee up his players for tomorrow night's #UWCL second leg here in Munich: "It’s the last match of the block for us, so it is ‘empty the tank’ time, it is ‘give absolutely everything’ and I think you’re going to see that tomorrow night." Terland remains sidelined for #MUwomen.

It was a record-breaking WSL & WSL2 weekend for the cumulative attendance, with 111,000 people attending games across the top two division's 12 fixtures. The six largest were... 46,123 (Arsenal) 24,983 (Man Utd) 10,156 (Sunderland) 9,142 (Ipswich) 5,292 (Everton) 3,822 (Crystal Palace) #BarclaysWSL

Kosovare Asllani has suffered what London City Lionesses have called a "complex multi-ligament injury", including an ACL injury, and will now see a specialist. #BarclaysWSL

Leicester's seven-match losing run in the league has coincided with a significant upturn in results for Liverpool, who now look all but safe, after their impressive January transfer activity. A look at the relegation battle here. #barclaysWSL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

On-the-whistle match report for @sport.theguardian.com as the champions elect Manchester City continue their WSL title victory lap with a statement victory at Old Trafford www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Miedema propels Manchester City closer to WSL title with derby stroll against United

Man City now only need a maximum of five points from their remaining three league matches - all of which are against teams in the bottom four - to clinch their first league trophy in a decade. #MCWFC #BarclaysWSL

"I couldn’t run, I was in so much pain.' Exclusive interview for @sport.theguardian.com with Everton's Katja Snoeijs as she discusses her endometriosis, her recent keyhole surgery and trying to encourage more women experiencing symptoms to seek help. #BarclaysWSL www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Women's FA Cup 1/4-final schedule: Arsenal v Brighton Sunday 5 April 13:00 Charlton v Liverpool Sunday 5 April 14:30 Chelsea v Tottenham Monday 6 April 13:30 Birmingham City v Man City Monday 6 April 17:00 All live on TNT Sports & HBO Max, with Chelsea-Tottenham on Channel 4. #WomensFACup

Our 2026 NWSL predictions are live at @us.theguardian.com! Full of storylines, superlatives, stars, playoff qualifiers, and award winners. Can Gotham go dynastic? With @ellabrockway.bsky.social, @tomjgarry.bsky.social, and @abigailsegel.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Exclusive interview: Fridolina Rolfö talks to @sport.theguardian.com about her move to Manchester United from Barcelona and bidding for trophies with #MUwomen, plus she shares some insight into her preparations for finals like Sunday's #SubwayWLCfinal v Chelsea. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Excl. for @sport.theguardian.com - Understand Khadija Shaw is close to agreeing a new contract at Manchester City, despite interest from Chelsea. Talks between City and the Jamaica striker are understood to have progressed positively in recent weeks. #MCWFC www.theguardian.com/football/202...

London City Lionesses have sold out Bromley's CopperJax Community Stadium for the first time, with over 5,000 tickets sold for Sunday’s #BarclaysWSL visit of Arsenal.

NEW: Calgary Wild FC have confirmed that their head coach Lydia Bedford is leaving and has accepted a role with The Football Association as head coach of the England Women’s Under-23 team. #YoungLionesses

Liverpool spent more on women's football last term than they ever have before, but LFC's directors still earned more than the combined salaries of all the WSL side’s 49 players & staff, their latest financial accounts reveal. More here for @sport.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/football/202...

NEW: The WSL2 side involved in the new promotion/relegation play-off will have home advantage in the one-legged tie, WSL Football has confirmed, with the top-flight side playing away. Sat 23 May, 12.30 kick-off, live on both BBC 2 & Sky Sports. #BarclaysWSL [1/3] www.theguardian.com/football/202...

The Czech player union has called for a lifetime ban for a coach who avoided jail despite being convicted of secretly filming his female players in the changing rooms and showers. Petr Vlachovsky used a hidden camera to film 14 players at FC Slovacko over 4 years. www.theguardian.com/football/202...

Iran’s women’s football team declined to sing their national anthem ahead of their opening match of the Asian Cup in Australia on Monday, which South Korea won 3-0. Iran's players have since been praised for their courage. www.theguardian.com/football/202...