The 2022–23 Women's Super League season (also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the 12th edition of the Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010.[1] It was the fifth season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football.

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...
Women's Super League
Season2022–23
Dates16 September 2022 – 27 May 2023
ChampionsChelsea
6th title
RelegatedReading
Champions LeagueChelsea
Manchester United
Arsenal
Matches played132
Goals scored439 (3.33 per match)
Top goalscorerRachel Daly
(22 goals)
Biggest home winChelsea 7–0 Everton
7 May 2023
Biggest away winBrighton & Hove Albion 0–8 Tottenham Hotspur
30 October 2022
Leicester City 0–8 Chelsea
3 December 2022
Highest scoringWest Ham United 4–5 Brighton & Hove Albion
6 November 2022
Highest attendance47,367
Arsenal 4–0 Tottenham Hotspur
(24 September 2022)
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Ahead of the season the top two tiers unveiled a new visual identity, dropping "The FA" from the league names as part of the long term strategy for the leagues to be under new ownership in the future.[2] Due to start on 9 September 2022, the FA postponed all of the weekend's football fixtures following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022.[3] The first match was instead played the following week on 16 September.

Chelsea successfully defended their title by defeating Reading, whose relegation from the division after an eight-year stint was confirmed by the result, 3–0 on the final matchday. It was Chelsea's fourth consecutive and sixth overall WSL title.[4] Manchester United became the first side since 2014 to break into the WSL's top three which had been occupied by Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City in various combinations for the previous seven seasons.[5]

Rachel Daly was topscorer and equalled the league record of 22 goals first set by Vivianne Miedema in 2018–19. She became the first English player to win the award since Ellen White in 2017–18.[6] Mary Earps won the golden glove and broke the record for clean sheets in a WSL season with 14.[7]

On 24 September 2022, a new record WSL attendance was set at 47,367 during a match between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal won 4–0.[8]

Teams

Twelve teams contested the 2022–23 Women's Super League season. Liverpool were confirmed as the 2021–22 FA Women's Championship champions on 3 April 2022, ensuring that they would return to the WSL for the first time since the 2019–20 season after a two year absence.[9] On 4 May 2022, founding members Birmingham City were relegated meaning the 2022–23 season was the first WSL season without them.[10]

  1. Three matches moved to the Emirates Stadium.
  2. Five matches moved to Villa Park.
  3. Match v Reading moved to Falmer Stadium.
  4. Match v Tottenham Hotspur moved to Stamford Bridge.
  5. Match v Everton moved to Anfield.
  6. Match v Manchester United moved to City of Manchester Stadium.
  7. Two matches moved to Old Trafford.
  8. Three matches moved to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Stadium changes

Having spent the previous three seasons at The Hive Stadium following promotion to the WSL in 2019, Tottenham Hotspur relocated to Brisbane Road, home of Leyton Orient, ahead of the 2022–23 season.[11]

In addition, eight of the ten clubs whose women's team play at secondary stadia moved select matches to the club's primary ground throughout the season.[12][13][14][15][16] This would have included on opening weekend with Brighton & Hove Albion hosting Aston Villa at Falmer Stadium,[17] Chelsea hosting West Ham United at Stamford Bridge,[18] and Tottenham Hotspur hosting Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.[19] With Reading already playing at the Madejski Stadium, it would have meant four of the six openers taking place at the stadium used by their respective clubs' men's team with Everton and Manchester City the only home sides not to do so. However, the opening weekend was postponed along with all other football fixture in the country following the death of Elizabeth II, meaning the predicted "record breaking start" to the season off the back of Euro 2022 was on hold.[20] Everton and West Ham United were the two teams to not play any WSL matches at the club's primary ground during the season.

Personnel and kits

More information Team, Manager ...
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Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Everton England Chris Roberts (interim) End of interim period 8 May 2022[22] End of season (10th) Denmark Brian Sørensen 5 June 2022[22]
West Ham United New Zealand Olli Harder Resigned 8 May 2022[23] End of season (6th) England Paul Konchesky 8 May 2022[23]
Brighton & Hove Albion England Hope Powell 31 October 2022[24] 11th England Amy Merricks (interim) 31 October 2022[24]
Leicester City England Lydia Bedford Sacked 3 November 2022[25] 12th Scotland Willie Kirk 3 November 2022[25]
Brighton & Hove Albion England Amy Merricks (interim) End of interim period 28 December 2022[26] 11th Germany Jens Scheuer 28 December 2022[26]
Germany Jens Scheuer Mutual consent 6 March 2023[27] 11th England Amy Merricks (interim) 6 March 2023[27]
Tottenham Hotspur England Rehanne Skinner Sacked 13 March 2023[28] 10th England Vicky Jepson (interim) 13 March 2023[28]
Brighton & Hove Albion England Amy Merricks (interim) End of interim period 7 April 2023[29] 12th United States Melissa Phillips 7 April 2023[29]
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League table

More information Pos, Team ...
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Chelsea (C) 22 19 1 2 66 15 +51 58 Qualification for the Champions League group stage[lower-alpha 1]
2 Manchester United 22 18 2 2 56 12 +44 56 Qualification for the Champions League second round
3 Arsenal 22 15 2 5 49 16 +33 47 Qualification for the Champions League first round
4 Manchester City 22 15 2 5 50 25 +25 47
5 Aston Villa 22 11 4 7 47 37 +10 37
6 Everton 22 9 3 10 29 36 7 30
7 Liverpool 22 6 5 11 24 39 15 23
8 West Ham United 22 6 3 13 23 44 21 21
9 Tottenham Hotspur 22 5 3 14 31 47 16 18
10 Leicester City 22 5 1 16 15 48 33 16
11 Brighton & Hove Albion 22 4 4 14 26 63 37 16
12 Reading (R) 22 3 2 17 23 57 34 11 Relegation to the Championship
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Source: Women's Super League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. England's UEFA association coefficient meant, as the 4th ranked association, the WSL champions qualified for the second round. However, as 2022–23 UEFA Women's Champions League winners Barcelona had already qualified for the group stage as 2022–23 Liga F champions, the title holders' berth to the group stage was redistributed to Chelsea.[30]

Results

More information Home \ Away, ARS ...
Home \ Away ARS AVL BHA CHE EVE LEI LIV MCI MNU REA TOT WHU
Arsenal 0–2 4–0 1–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 2–1 2–3 4–0 4–0 3–1
Aston Villa 1–4 1–1 0–3 0–1 5–0 3–3 4–3 2–3 3–1 2–1 1–2
Brighton & Hove Albion 0–4 2–6 0–2 3–2 0–1 3–3 1–2 0–4 2–1 0–8 1–0
Chelsea 2–0 3–1 3–1 7–0 6–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 3–2 3–0 3–1
Everton 1–4 0–2 2–1 1–3 1–0 1–1 1–2 0–3 3–2 2–1 3–0
Leicester City 0–4 0–2 3–0 0–8 0–0 4–0 0–2 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–2
Liverpool 0–2 0–1 2–1 2–1 0–3 0–1 2–1 0–1 2–0 2–1 2–0
Manchester City 2–1 1–1 3–1 2–0 3–2 4–0 2–1 1–1 4–1 3–1 6–2
Manchester United 1–0 5–0 4–0 1–3 0–0 5–1 6–0 2–1 4–0 3–0 4–0
Reading 0–1 0–5 2–2 0–3 2–3 2–1 3–3 0–3 0–1 1–0 2–1
Tottenham Hotspur 1–5 3–3 2–2 2–3 0–3 1–0 1–0 0–3 1–2 4–1 0–2
West Ham United 0–0 1–2 4–5 0–4 1–0 1–0 0–0 0–1 0–2 3–2 2–2
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Source: The FA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

More information Rank, Player ...
RankPlayerClubGoals[31]
1 England Rachel Daly Aston Villa 22
2 Jamaica Khadija Shaw Manchester City 20
3 England Bethany England Chelsea / Tottenham Hotspur 14
4 Australia Sam Kerr Chelsea 12
5 England Leah Galton Manchester United 10
England Alessia Russo Manchester United
7 Norway Frida Maanum Arsenal 9
Norway Guro Reiten Chelsea
United States Katie Stengel Liverpool
10 Sweden Stina Blackstenius Arsenal 8
Spain Lucía García Manchester United
Denmark Pernille Harder Chelsea
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Clean sheets

More information Rank, Player ...
Rank Player Club Clean
sheets[32]
1 England Mary Earps Manchester United 14
2 Austria Manuela Zinsberger Arsenal 10
3 Germany Ann-Katrin Berger Chelsea 8
4 Australia Mackenzie Arnold West Ham United 5
England Hannah Hampton Aston Villa
Germany Janina Leitzig Leicester City
England Ellie Roebuck Manchester City
8 Republic of Ireland Courtney Brosnan Everton 4
9 Finland Tinja-Riikka Korpela Tottenham Hotspur 3
England Rachael Laws Liverpool
Sweden Zećira Mušović Chelsea
England Emily Ramsey Everton
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Hat-tricks

More information Player, For ...
PlayerForAgainstResultDate Ref.
England Rachel Daly Aston Villa Reading 3–1 (H) 20 November 2022 [33]
England Jordan Nobbs Brighton & Hove Albion 6–2 (A) 12 February 2023 [34]
England Alessia Russo Manchester United Leicester City 5–1 (H) 5 March 2023 [35]
Jamaica Khadija Shaw Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur 3–1 (H) [36]
England Rachel Daly Aston Villa Reading 5–0 (A) 7 May 2023 [37]
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Discipline

More information Most yellow cards, Total ...
Most yellow cardsTotalMost red cardsTotalRef.
Player Republic of Ireland Katie McCabe (Arsenal) 7 England Aggie Beever-Jones (Everton)
Northern Ireland Jacqueline Burns (Reading)
France Hawa Cissoko (West Ham United)
Sweden Emma Kullberg (Brighton & Hove Albion)
England Ruby Mace (Leicester City)
England Ashleigh Neville (Tottenham Hotspur)
England Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City)
England Ella Toone (Manchester United)
1 [38]
Club Leicester City
Reading
Tottenham Hotspur
30 Brighton & Hove Albion
Everton
Leicester City
Manchester City
Manchester United
Reading
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
1 [38]
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Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

More information Award, Winner ...
Award Winner Club
Barclays WSL Player of the Season[61] England Rachel Daly Aston Villa
Barclays WSL Manager of the Season[62] England Emma Hayes Chelsea
Barclays WSL Goal of the Season[63] Republic of Ireland Katie McCabe (vs. Manchester City) Arsenal
PFA Players' Player of the Year[64] England Rachel Daly Aston Villa
PFA Young Player of the Year[65] England Lauren James Chelsea
FWA Footballer of the Year[66] Australia Sam Kerr Chelsea
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More information PFA Team of the Year ...
PFA Team of the Year[67]
Goalkeeper England Mary Earps (Manchester United)
Defenders Spain Ona Batlle (Manchester United) England Maya Le Tissier (Manchester United) England Alex Greenwood (Manchester City) Brazil Rafaelle Souza (Arsenal)
Midfielders Norway Guro Reiten (Chelsea) Norway Frida Maanum (Arsenal) Japan Yui Hasegawa (Manchester City)
Forwards England Rachel Daly (Aston Villa) Jamaica Khadija Shaw (Manchester City) Australia Sam Kerr (Chelsea)
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Highest attendances

Top 10 highest attendances

As of 28 April 2023
More information Rank, Club ...
RankClubAttendanceStadiumOppositionResultDateRef
1 Arsenal 47,367 Emirates Stadium Tottenham Hotspur 4–0 24 September 2022 [68]
2 Arsenal 46,881 Emirates Stadium Chelsea 1–1 15 January 2023 [69]
3 Manchester City 44,259 City of Manchester Stadium Manchester United 1–1 11 December 2022 [70]
4 Arsenal 40,064 Emirates Stadium Manchester United 2–3 19 November 2022 [71]
5 Chelsea 38,350 Stamford Bridge Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 20 November 2022 [72]
6 Manchester United 30,196 Old Trafford Aston Villa 5–0 3 December 2022 [73]
7 Liverpool 28,574 Anfield Everton 0–3 25 September 2022 [74]
8 Manchester United 27,919 Old Trafford West Ham United 4–0 25 March 2023 [75]
9 Everton 22,161 Goodison Park Liverpool 1–1 24 March 2023 [76]
10 Tottenham Hotspur 21,940 Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Manchester United 1–2 12 February 2023 [77]
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Highest attendances by home team

As of 28 April 2023
More information Club, Attendance ...
ClubAttendanceStadiumOppositionResultDateRef
Arsenal 47,367 Emirates Stadium Tottenham Hotspur 4–0 24 September 2022 [68]
Aston Villa 7,517 Villa Park Manchester City 3–3 21 May 2023 [78]
Brighton & Hove Albion 5,220 Falmer Stadium Reading 2–1 25 September 2022 [79]
Chelsea 38,350 Stamford Bridge Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 20 November 2022 [72]
Everton 22,161 Goodison Park Liverpool 1–1 24 March 2023 [76]
Leicester City 4,007 King Power Stadium Manchester United 0–1 23 October 2022 [80]
Liverpool 28,574 Anfield Everton 0–3 25 September 2022 [74]
Manchester City 44,259 City of Manchester Stadium Manchester United 1–1 11 December 2022 [70]
Manchester United 30,196 Old Trafford Aston Villa 5–0 3 December 2022 [73]
Reading 5,108 Madejski Stadium Manchester United 0–1 22 January 2023 [81]
Tottenham Hotspur 21,940 Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Manchester United 1–2 12 February 2023 [77]
West Ham United 2,832 Victoria Road Arsenal 0–0 5 February 2023 [82]
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References

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