2019–20 FA WSL

The 2019–20 FA WSL season (also known as the Barclays FA Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth edition of the FA Women's Super League (WSL) since it was formed in 2010.^[1] It was the second season after the rebranding of the four highest levels in English women's football and the twelve teams contesting the season was the greatest number in the league's history to date, following a steady increase from the original eight.^[2] It is the first under the new Barclays title sponsorship following a landmark multi-million pound investment.^[3]

FA WSL

FA WSL trophy
Season	2019–20
Dates	7 September 2019 – 5 June 2020
Champions	Chelsea 3rd title
Relegated	Liverpool
Champions League	Chelsea Manchester City
Matches played	87
Goals scored	259 (2.98 per match)
Top goalscorer	Vivianne Miedema (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Arsenal 11–1 Bristol City (1 December 2019)
Biggest away win	Birmingham City 0–6 Chelsea (24 November 2019)
Highest scoring	Arsenal 11–1 Bristol City (1 December 2019)
Highest attendance	38,262 – Tottenham Hotspur 0–2 Arsenal (17 November 2019)
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

On 13 March 2020, in line with the FA's response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced the season was initially suspended until at least 3 April 2020.^[4][5] After further postponements, the season was ultimately ended prematurely on 25 May 2020 with immediate effect.^[6] On 5 June 2020, Chelsea were named as champions, moving them up one place ahead of Manchester City on sporting merit after The FA Board's decision to award places on a points-per-game basis. Manchester City were awarded the second Champions League place and Liverpool were relegated using the same method.^[7][8]

Teams

After the WSL's restructure going into the 2018–19 season, membership of the league returned solely to performance in the previous season, though the league expanded from eleven teams to twelve as Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were both promoted after finishing first and second respectively in the Championship during the 2018–19 season,^[9] while only Yeovil Town were relegated.^[10][11]

Arsenal

Birmingham City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Bristol City

Chelsea

Everton

Liverpool

Man. City

Man. United

Reading

Tottenham

West Ham United

Locations of the 2019–20 FA WSL teams

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2018–19 season
Arsenal	Borehamwood	Meadow Park	4,502	1st
Birmingham City	Solihull	Damson Park	3,050	4th
Brighton & Hove Albion	Crawley	Broadfield Stadium[a]	6,134	9th
Bristol City	Filton	Stoke Gifford Stadium[b]	1,500	6th
Chelsea	Kingston upon Thames	Kingsmeadow[c]	4,850	3rd
Everton	Liverpool	Walton Hall Park[d]	2,200	10th
Liverpool	Birkenhead	Prenton Park[e]	16,587	8th
Manchester City	Manchester	Academy Stadium[f]	7,000	2nd
Manchester United	Leigh	Leigh Sports Village	12,000	WC, 1st
Reading	High Wycombe	Adams Park[g]	9,617	5th
Tottenham Hotspur	Canons Park	The Hive Stadium[h]	6,500	WC, 2nd
West Ham United	Romford	Rush Green Stadium[i]	3,000	7th

1. Match v Birmingham City moved to Falmer Stadium
2. Opening weekend match v Brighton & Hove Albion held at Ashton Gate
3. Match v Tottenham Hotspur held at Stamford Bridge
4. Opening six home fixtures played at Haig Avenue
5. Merseyside derby held at Anfield
6. Manchester derby held at City of Manchester Stadium
7. Match v Bristol City moved to Madjeski Stadium
8. North London derby held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
9. Match v Tottenham Hotspur moved to London Stadium

Stadium changes

In response to the record viewing figures during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, three select fixtures were initially moved to Premier League grounds: The Manchester derby at the City of Manchester Stadium, Chelsea v Tottenham at Stamford Bridge and the North London derby at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.^[12][13] In total, eight of the twelve teams have moved FA WSL fixtures to the larger grounds of their men's affiliate teams: Bristol City later announced their opening game would be played at Ashton Gate,^[14] Reading moved one of their league fixtures (as well as all three League Cup games) to the Madjeski Stadium^[15] and West Ham announced they would host Spurs at the London Stadium.^[16] Brighton & Hove Albion moved their match against Birmingham to the Falmer Stadium to coincide with the FA's Women's Football Weekend, held during a men's international break.^[17] Liverpool later moved their Merseyside derby, held on the same weekend, to Anfield and Everton scheduled the reverse fixture in February at Goodison Park^[18][19] (the match was ultimately left unplayed when the season was suspended and then cancelled).

After originally planning to permanently relocate to their new Walton Hall Park stadium in October 2019 following their opening two home games, delays meant Everton had to postpone the move until February 2020 and eventually scheduled six of their 11 home league games at Haig Avenue in Southport.^[20][21][22]

Personnel and kits

As of 23 February 2020

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Joe Montemurro	Kim Little	Adidas	Fly Emirates
Birmingham City	Charlie Baxter (interim)	Kerys Harrop	Adidas	Maple from Canada
Brighton & Hove Albion	Hope Powell	Danielle Buet	Nike	American Express
Bristol City	Tanya Oxtoby	Loren Dykes	Bristol Sport	Yeo Valley
Chelsea	Emma Hayes	Magdalena Eriksson	Nike	Yokohama Tyres
Everton	Willie Kirk	Danielle Turner	Umbro	SportPesa
Liverpool	Vicky Jepson	Sophie Bradley-Auckland	New Balance	BetVictor
Manchester City	Alan Mahon (interim)	Steph Houghton	Puma	Etihad Airways
Manchester United	Casey Stoney	Katie Zelem	Adidas	Chevrolet
Reading	Kelly Chambers	Natasha Harding	Macron	YLD
Tottenham Hotspur	Karen Hills Juan Carlos Amorós	Jenna Schillaci	Nike	AIA
West Ham United	Matt Beard	Gilly Flaherty	Umbro	Betway

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Manchester City	Nick Cushing	Signed with New York City FC[23]	2 February 2020	1st	Alan Mahon (interim)	3 February 2020
Birmingham City	Marta Tejedor	Mutual separation[24]	3 March 2020	11th	Charlie Baxter (interim)	3 March 2020

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	PPG	Qualification
1	Chelsea (C)	15	12	3	0	47	11	+36	39	2.60	Qualification for the Champions League
2	Manchester City	16	13	1	2	39	9	+30	40	2.50
3	Arsenal	15	12	0	3	40	13	+27	36	2.40
4	Manchester United	14	7	2	5	24	12	+12	23	1.64
5	Reading	14	6	3	5	21	24	−3	21	1.50
6	Everton	14	6	1	7	21	21	0	19	1.36
7	Tottenham Hotspur	15	6	2	7	15	24	−9	20	1.33
8	West Ham United	14	5	1	8	19	34	−15	16	1.14
9	Brighton & Hove Albion	16	3	4	9	11	30	−19	13	0.81
10	Bristol City	14	2	3	9	9	38	−29	9	0.64
11	Birmingham City	13	2	1	10	5	23	−18	7	0.54
12	Liverpool (R)	14	1	3	10	8	20	−12	6	0.43	Relegation to the Championship

Source: FA WSL, BBC
Rules for classification: Initially: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored. After abandonment of season: 1) Points per game
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ARS	BIR	BHA	BRI	CHE	EVE	LIV	MCI	MNU	REA	TOT	WHU
Arsenal	—	2–0	4–0	11–1	1–4	–	1–0	1–0	–	–	–	2–1
Birmingham City	–	—	–	0–1	0–6	0–1	2–0	0–2	–	–	1–1	–
Brighton & Hove Albion	0–4	3–0	—	–	1–1	1–0	1–0	–	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–3
Bristol City	–	0–2	0–0	—	0–4	–	0–1	0–5	–	–	1–2	–
Chelsea	2–1	2–0	–	6–1	—	–	–	2–1	1–0	3–1	1–0	8–0
Everton	1–3	–	2–0	2–0	–	—	–	0–1	2–3	3–1	3–1	–
Liverpool	2–3	–	–	1–1	1–1	0–1	—	–	–	0–1	–	1–1
Manchester City	2–1	3–0	5–0	1–0	3–3	3–1	1–0	—	1–0	–	–	5–0
Manchester United	0–1	–	4–0	0–1	–	3–1	2–0	–	—	2–0	3–0	–
Reading	0–3	1–0	–	3–3	–	3–2	–	0–2	1–1	—	3–1	2–0
Tottenham Hotspur	0–2	–	1–0	–	–	2–2	1–0	1–4	0–3	–	—	2–1
West Ham United	–	1–0	2–1	–	1–3	–	4–2	–	3–2	2–3	0–2	—

Source: The FA
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

As of 23 February 2020

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Vivianne Miedema	Arsenal	16
2	Bethany England	Chelsea	14
3	Pauline Bremer	Manchester City	10
4	Chloe Kelly	Everton	9
5	Lauren James	Manchester United	6
	Ji So-Yun	Chelsea
	Ellen White	Manchester City
8	Daniëlle van de Donk	Arsenal	5
	Rachel Furness	Liverpool
	Lauren Hemp	Manchester City
	Adriana Leon	West Ham United
	Kim Little	Arsenal
	Jordan Nobbs	Arsenal
	Guro Reiten	Chelsea
	Ebony Salmon	Bristol City
	Aileen Whelan	Brighton & Hove Albion
	Fara Williams	Reading
	Katie Zelem	Manchester United

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Ellie Roebuck	Manchester City	10
2	Manuela Zinsberger	Arsenal	6
3	Mary Earps	Manchester United	5
4	Ann-Katrin Berger	Chelsea	4
	Tinja-Riikka Korpela	Everton
	Becky Spencer	Tottenham Hotspur
	Megan Walsh	Brighton & Hove Albion
8	Sophie Baggaley	Bristol City	3
9	Hannah Hampton	Birmingham City	2
	Rachael Laws	Reading
	Pauline Peyraud-Magnin	Arsenal
	Carly Telford	Chelsea

Records

The match between Arsenal and Bristol City on 1 December 2019 ended 11–1, setting a new WSL record scoreline, surpassing the 9–0 win of Liverpool Ladies over Doncaster Rovers Belles in 2013.^[25]

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
September	Karen Hills Juan Amorós	Tottenham Hotspur	Chloe Kelly	Everton	[26][27][28][29]
October	Emma Hayes	Chelsea	Kirsty Hanson	Manchester United	[30][31]
November	Willie Kirk	Everton	Millie Bright	Chelsea	[32][33]
December	Joe Montemurro	Arsenal	Vivianne Miedema	Arsenal	[34][35]
January	Emma Hayes	Chelsea	Bethany England	Chelsea	[36][37]
February	Emma Hayes	Chelsea	Bethany England	Chelsea	[38][39]

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Barclays FA WSL Player of the Season	Bethany England[40]	Chelsea
Barclays FA WSL Manager of the Season	Emma Hayes[40]	Chelsea
PFA Players' Player of the Year	Bethany England[41]	Chelsea
PFA Young Player of the Year	Lauren Hemp[42]	Manchester City
FWA Footballer of the Year	Vivianne Miedema[43]	Arsenal

PFA Team of the Year[44]
Goalkeeper	Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea)
Defenders	Maren Mjelde (Chelsea)			Leah Williamson (Arsenal)			Millie Bright (Chelsea)			Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea)
Midfielders	Caroline Weir (Manchester City)				Kim Little (Arsenal)				Ji So-yun (Chelsea)
Forwards	Bethany England (Chelsea)				Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal)				Chloe Kelly (Everton)

Prize money

An FA WSL prize fund was put in place for the first time, following the new Barclay's sponsorship deal, with the entire pot totaling £500,000. The money was awarded in decreasing increments with the champions winning £100,000 and the last placed team being awarded £6,000.^[45][46]

Finish	Prize money
1st	£100,000
2nd	£67,000
3rd	£60,000
4th	£55,000
5th	£49,000
6th	£43,000
7th	£36,000
8th	£30,000
9th	£24,000
10th	£18,000
11th	£12,000
12th	£6,000

See also

• 2019–20 FA Women's League Cup
• 2019–20 FA Women's Championship (tier 2)
• 2019–20 FA Women's National League (tier 3 & 4)