2022–23 Women's Championship

The 2022–23 Women's Championship season (also known as the Barclays Women's Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the rebranded Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England.^[1]

Women's Championship

Season	2022–23
Champions	Bristol City
Relegated	Coventry United
Matches played	132
Goals scored	355 (2.69 per match)
Top goalscorer	Melissa Johnson (12 goals)
Biggest home win	London City Lionesses 9–0 Coventry United 30 April 2023
Biggest away win	Coventry United 0–5 London City Lionesses 16 October 2022 Coventry United 0–5 Sunderland 4 December 2022 Crystal Palace 0–5 London City Lionesses 15 January 2023 Sunderland 0–5 Bristol City 16 April 2023
Highest scoring	London City Lionesses 9–0 Coventry United 30 April 2023
Longest winning run	7 matches Birmingham City
Longest unbeaten run	11 matches London City Lionesses
Longest winless run	12 matches Blackburn Rovers
Longest losing run	11 matches Coventry United
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

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] Having sponsored the first tier since the 2019–20 season, it marks the first season of Barclays as the title partner of the Women's Championship.^[3]

On 2 April 2023, Coventry United were mathematically confirmed as relegated from the Championship after four seasons in the second division. They sat 10 points adrift from safety with three games remaining.^[4] On 23 April 2023, Bristol City were confirmed as champions with one game remaining, holding a four point lead ahead of final day opponents Birmingham City. They earned promotion back to the WSL after two seasons in the Championship.^[5]

Teams

Birmingham City

Blackburn Rovers

Bristol City

Charlton Athletic

Coventry United

Crystal Palace

Durham

Lewes

London City

Sheffield United

Southampton

Sunderland

Location of clubs for the 2022–23 season

Twelve teams will compete in the Championship for the 2022–23 season, the same number as the previous season. Liverpool were promoted to the FA WSL as 2021–22 FA Women's Championship winners.^[6] They were replaced by Birmingham City who finished bottom of the FA WSL in the 2021–22 season and were relegated after 20 years in the top flight.^[7] Watford were relegated to the FA Women's National League after just one season in the Championship.^[8] They were replaced by Southern Premier Division winners Southampton who beat Northern Premier Division winners Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 2021–22 FA Women's National League playoff to earn promotion.^[9]

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2021–22 season
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	29,902	WSL, 12th
Blackburn Rovers	Bamber Bridge	Sir Tom Finney Stadium	3,000	10th
Bristol City	Failand	Robins High Performance Centre		3rd
Charlton Athletic	Bexley	The Oakwood	1,180	5th
Coventry United	Coventry	Butts Park Arena	4,000	11th
Crystal Palace	Bromley	Hayes Lane	5,000	4th
Durham	Durham	Maiden Castle	1,700	6th
Lewes	Lewes	The Dripping Pan	3,000	8th
London City Lionesses	Dartford	Princes Park	4,100	2nd
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,050	7th
Southampton	Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,384	WNL, 1st
Sunderland	Hetton-le-Hole	Eppleton CW	2,500	9th

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Lewes	Craig Gill (interim)	End of interim period	12 May 2022[10]	End of season (8th)	Scott Booth	12 May 2022[10]
Coventry United	Jay Bradford	Resigned	28 May 2022	End of season (11th)	Lee Burch	18 July 2022[11]
Sheffield United	Neil Redfearn	Resigned	25 November 2022[12]	10th	Zoe Johnson (interim)	25 November 2022
London City Lionesses	Melissa Phillips	Signed by Angel City FC	23 January 2023[13]	1st	Nikita Runnacles (interim)	23 January 2023
Sheffield United	Zoe Johnson (interim)	End of interim period	14 February 2023[14]	11th	Jonathan Morgan	14 February 2023
Crystal Palace	Dean Davenport	Suspended[a]	12 March 2023[16]	6th	Mike Lowne (interim)	12 March 2023
Blackburn Rovers	Gemma Donnelly	Mutual consent	4 April 2023[17]	11th	Matt Bee (interim)	4 April 2023

1. Davenport was initially suspended pending an internal investigation on 12 March 2023. His permanent departure was confirmed on 15 May 2023.^[15]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bristol City (C, P)	22	15	3	4	39	12	+27	48	Promotion to the WSL[a]
2	Birmingham City	22	15	2	5	39	22	+17	47
3	London City Lionesses	22	14	3	5	49	20	+29	45
4	Charlton Athletic	22	11	5	6	34	27	+7	38
5	Crystal Palace	22	11	1	10	28	34	−6	34
6	Southampton	22	9	6	7	22	15	+7	33
7	Durham	22	8	4	10	30	29	+1	28
8	Sheffield United	22	8	3	11	32	25	+7	27
9	Lewes	22	7	5	10	20	29	−9	26
10	Blackburn Rovers	22	5	8	9	20	29	−9	23
11	Sunderland	22	5	3	14	26	38	−12	18
12	Coventry United (R)	22	2	1	19	16	75	−59	7	Relegation to the National League

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Dependent on obtaining a licence.

Results

Home \ Away	BLB	BRI	BIR	CHA	COV	CRY	DUR	LEW	LCL	SHU	SOU	SUN
Blackburn Rovers	—	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–2	1–3	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–0	1–1	1–0
Bristol City	2–0	—	0–1	4–0	3–2	3–0	3–0	2–0	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–0
Birmingham City	2–1	2–0	—	2–2	3–2	3–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–3
Charlton Athletic	2–2	0–2	3–0	—	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	3–4	1–0	1–0	2–2
Coventry United	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–4	—	3–2	1–5	0–1	0–5	0–4	0–4	0–5
Crystal Palace	1–0	0–3	2–4	1–2	3–0	—	1–0	4–1	0–5	2–1	1–2	0–2
Durham	3–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	5–1	0–1	—	2–1	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–1
Lewes	1–0	0–1	0–4	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	—	0–0	2–2	2–2	2–0
London City Lionesses	0–0	2–0	3–2	1–0	9–0	0–1	3–0	3–1	—	1–2	1–1	3–1
Sheffield United	1–1	1–3	0–1	1–0	8–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	0–2	—	0–1	4–2
Southampton	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–2	3–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	—	1–0
Sunderland	0–1	0–5	0–4	2–3	3–0	1–2	3–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	—

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

Top scorers

As of 30 April 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Melissa Johnson	Charlton Athletic	12
2	Sarah Ewens	London City Lionesses	11
	Shania Hayles	Bristol City
	Jade Pennock	Birmingham City
5	Saffron Jordan	Blackburn Rovers	10
6	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk	Sheffield United	9
7	Atlanta Primus	London City Lionesses	8
	Emily Scarr	Sunderland
9	Grace Clinton	Bristol City	7
	Mia Enderby	Sheffield United
	Rio Hardy	Durham
	Katie Wilkinson	Southampton

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Jade Pennock	Birmingham City
Golden Boot	Melissa Johnson	Charlton Athletic
Golden Glove	Fran Bentley	Bristol City

See also

• 2022–23 FA Women's League Cup
• 2022–23 Women's Super League (tier 1)
• 2022–23 FA Women's National League (tier 3 & 4)

References

1. "New brand identity". www.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 2021-09-25. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
2. "Barclays Women's Super League rebranded". www.mancity.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-23. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
3. "New look for BWSL and BWC". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. 10 June 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
4. "Coventry United relegated from the Barclays Women's Championship". FAWSL Full-Time. 2 April 2023. Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
5. "Smith 'excited' as Bristol City return to WSL". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2023-05-10. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
6. "LFC Women crowned champions and secure return to WSL". Liverpool FC. Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
7. "Birmingham's fall from WSL high-flyers to relegation". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2023-03-25. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
8. "Late free kick relegates Golden Girls". Watford Observer. Archived from the original on 2022-05-12. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
9. "Saints win play-off to reach Women's Championship". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2022-05-21. Retrieved 2022-05-21.
10. "Lewes appoint Booth as new women's manager". BBC Sport.
11. "Burch named Coventry United Women manager". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
12. "Club statement: Neil Redfearn". Sheffield United FC. Archived from the original on 2023-01-02. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
13. "Melissa Phillips departs as London City Lionesses head coach". London City Lionesses. 24 January 2023. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
14. "Jonathan Morgan appointed as Sheffield United Women head coach". Sheffield United FC. Archived from the original on 2023-02-14. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
15. Woosnam, Matt (15 May 2023). "Crystal Palace Women manager Dean Davenport and members of staff leave club". The Athletic. Archived from the original on 17 May 2023. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
16. "Davenport suspended in Palace Women investigation". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
17. "Blackburn Rovers manager leaves after nine years in charge". Lancashire Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2023-04-04.

External links

• Official website