2023–24 Women's Championship

The 2023–24 Women's Championship season (known Barclays Women's Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the rebranded Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England, and the ninth season since the creation of the WSL 2.^[1]

Women's Championship

Season	2023–24
Champions	Crystal Palace
Relegated	Lewes Watford
Matches played	132
Goals scored	361 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorer	Elise Hughes (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Crystal Palace 9–1 Durham 10 September 2023
Biggest away win	Blackburn Rovers 0–4 Crystal Palace 1 October 2023 Sheffield United 0–4 Birmingham City 15 October 2023 Reading 0–4 Birmingham City 20 March 2024 Durham 1–5 Crystal Palace 31 March 2024
Highest scoring	Crystal Palace 9–1 Durham 10 September 2023
← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 28 April 2024.

In April 2023, The Football Association board announced changes to the Women's Championship, increasing the number of relegation spots in the 2023–24 season to two in order for both FA Women's National League champions (North and South) to win promotion at the end of the season. Previously only one team had been relegated and replaced by the winner of a playoff match between the Northern Premier Division and Southern Premier Division champions. The changes will not impact the structure of the Women's Super League with a one up, one down system.^[2]

On 14 April 2024, Watford were the first team to be mathematically confirmed as relegated from the Championship after only one season back in the second division. They sat seven points adrift from safety with two games remaining.^[3] Lewes' relegation was confirmed on 21 April 2024 after defeat to Crystal Palace coupled with a victory for Reading over Durham left Lewes four points behind with only one game left to play. Relegation ended Lewes' six-season spell in the Championship stretching back to the 2018–19 campaign.^[4] The 2023–24 Women's Championship title was still mathematically undecided until the final day of the season although Crystal Palace went in to the day three points ahead of Charlton Athletic and had a superior goal difference by 22.^[5] Crystal Palace secured the title with a point on the final day, playing out a goalless draw with Sunderland at Selhurst Park.^[6]

Teams

Birmingham City

Blackburn Rovers

Charlton Athletic

Crystal Palace

Durham

Lewes

London City

Reading

Sheffield United

Southampton

Sunderland

Watford

Location of clubs for the 2023–24 season

Twelve teams competed in the Championship for the 2023–24 season, the same number as the previous season. Bristol City were promoted to the Women's Super League as 2022–23 Women's Championship winners.^[7] They will be replaced by Reading who were relegated on the final day of the 2022–23 Women's Super League season,^[8] ending a seven-season stay in the WSL which began in 2016 following the club's promotion as 2015 WSL 2 winners.^[9] Coventry United were relegated to the FA Women's National League after four seasons in the second division.^[10] They were replaced by the winners of the 2022–23 FA Women's National League playoff, Southern Premier Division winners Watford, who beat Northern champions Nottingham Forest 1–0. They returned after just one season away having been relegated at the end of the 2021–22 season.^[11]

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2022–23 season
Birmingham City	Birmingham	St Andrew's	29,902	2nd
Blackburn Rovers	Bamber Bridge	Sir Tom Finney Stadium	3,000	10th
Charlton Athletic	Crayford	Oakwood	1,180	4th
Crystal Palace	Sutton	Gander Green Lane	5,032	5th
Durham	Durham	Maiden Castle	1,700	7th
Lewes	Lewes	The Dripping Pan	3,000	9th
London City Lionesses	Dartford	Princes Park	4,100	3rd
Reading	Reading	Madejski Stadium	24,161	WSL, 12th
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Bramall Lane	32,050	8th
Southampton	Southampton	St Mary's Stadium	32,384	6th
Sunderland	Hetton-le-Hole	Eppleton CW	2,500	11th
Watford	Ruislip	Grosvenor Vale	4,085	WNL, 1st

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Reading	Kelly Chambers	Resigned	20 June 2023[12]	End of season (WSL, 12th)	Liam Gilbert	18 August 2023[13]
London City Lionesses	Nikita Runnacles (interim)	End of interim period	4 July 2023	End of season (3rd)	Carolina Morace	4 July 2023[14]
Crystal Palace	Mike Lowne (interim)	End of interim period	14 July 2023	End of season (5th)	Laura Kaminski	14 July 2023[15]
Blackburn Rovers	Matt Bee (interim)	End of interim period	17 July 2023	End of season (10th)	Simon Parker	17 July 2023[16]
Sheffield United	Jonathan Morgan	Sacked	2 February 2024	8th	Luke Turner (interim)	2 February 2024[17]
London City Lionesses	Carolina Morace	Sacked	7 February 2024	10th	Darren Smith (interim)	7 February 2024[18]
London City Lionesses	Darren Smith (interim)	End of interim period	2 March 2024	10th	Remi Allen	2 March 2024[19]
Birmingham City	Darren Carter	Mutual consent	11 April 2024[20]	5th	Emily Simpkins (interim)	12 April 2024[21]
Birmingham City	Emily Simpkins (interim)	End of interim period	15 April 2024	5th	Amy Merricks	15 April 2024[22]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Crystal Palace (C, P)	22	14	4	4	55	20	+35	46	Promotion to the WSL[lower-alpha 1]
2	Charlton Athletic	22	13	6	3	32	17	+15	45
3	Sunderland	22	12	5	5	31	18	+13	41
4	Southampton	22	13	0	9	39	25	+14	39
5	Birmingham City	22	11	3	8	33	19	+14	36
6	Blackburn Rovers	22	11	3	8	25	28	−3	36
7	Sheffield United	22	9	2	11	32	31	+1	29
8	London City Lionesses	22	7	4	11	26	36	−10	25
9	Durham	22	6	5	11	24	44	−20	23
10	Reading	22	5	7	10	20	40	−20	22
11	Lewes (R)	22	4	4	14	22	39	−17	16	Relegation to the National League
12	Watford (R)	22	4	3	15	22	44	−22	15

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	BIR	BLB	CHA	CRY	DUR	LEW	LCL	REA	SHU	SOU	SUN	WAT
Birmingham City		0–0	0–1	1–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	5–2
Blackburn Rovers	1–0		0–1	0–4	2–2	2–1[lower-alpha 1]	0–3	0–0[lower-alpha 2]	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–0
Charlton Athletic	3–1	3–2		3–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–1[lower-alpha 3]	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–3
Crystal Palace	1–0[lower-alpha 4]	4–0	0–1		9–1	3–2	6–1	1–1	1–0[lower-alpha 5]	3–4	0–0	3–0
Durham	1–0	2–1	0–1	1–5		2–0	1–0	0–2	2–5	1–0	0–1	0–2
Lewes	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	1–1		2–1	2–2	2–1	1–4	0–2	2–1
London City Lionesses	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	2–2	3–2		1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	3–2
Reading	0–4[lower-alpha 6]	1–4	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–2		1–3	1–4	1–0	0–0
Sheffield United	0–4	1–3	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–0	3–1	5–1		0–1	0–1	1–0
Southampton	1–3	2–0	0–2	1–2	2–1	2–1	3–1	5–0	2–1		0–1	3–0
Sunderland	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–1	5–3	4–3	0–0	3–1	3–0	1–0		2–1
Watford	2–0	0–1	0–2[lower-alpha 7]	0–3	1–1	1–2	3–3	3–2	1–3	0–2	0–3

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

1. Originally scheduled to be played on 17 December, the Blackburn Rovers match against Lewes was postponed due to Lewes playing in the FA Cup.
2. Originally scheduled to be played on 19 November, the Blackburn Rovers match against Reading was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
3. Originally scheduled to be played on 18 February, the Charlton match against Reading was postponed due a waterlogged pitch.
4. Originally scheduled to be played on 3 March, the Crystal Palace match against Birmingham City was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
5. Originally scheduled to be played on 30 September, the Crystal Palace match against Sheffield United was postponed due to the death of Maddy Cusack.
6. Originally scheduled to be played on 21 January, the Reading match against Birmingham City was postponed due to an outbreak of illness in the Reading camp.
7. Originally scheduled to be played on 3 March, the Watford match against Charlton was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Top scorers

As of 28 April 2024^[23]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Elise Hughes	Crystal Palace	16
2	Isobel Goodwin	Sheffield United	15
3	Annabel Blanchard	Crystal Palace	11
4	Carly Johns	Watford	8
	Sophia Pharoah	Southampton
	Molly Sharpe	Crystal Palace
	Katie Wilkinson	Southampton
8	Megan Hornby	Blackburn Rovers	7
	Molly Pike	Southampton
	Emily Scarr	Sunderland

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Goal of the Month		Ref.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
September	Laura Kaminski	Crystal Palace	Annabel Blanchard	Crystal Palace	Annabel Blanchard (vs. Durham)	Crystal Palace	[24][25]
October	Melanie Reay	Sunderland	Lucy Quinn	Birmingham City	Araya Dennis (vs. Charlton Athletic)	Crystal Palace	[26][27][28]
November	Karen Hills	Charlton Athletic	Gemma Lawley	Birmingham City	Shauna Guyatt (vs. Watford)	Crystal Palace	[29][30][31]
December			Michelle Agyemang	Watford	Lily Agg (vs. Sunderland)	Birmingham City	[32][33]
January	Karen Hills	Charlton Athletic	Emily Scarr	Sunderland	Maria Farrugia (vs. Reading)	Lewes	[34][35][36]
February	Laura Kaminski	Crystal Palace	Isibeal Atkinson	Crystal Palace	Emily Scarr (vs. Lewes)	Sunderland	[37][38][39]
March	Remi Allen	London City Lionesses	Maria Farrugia	Lewes	Beth Hepple (vs. Sunderland)	Durham	[40][41][42]
April	Karen Hills	Charlton Athletic	Jade Richards	Blackburn Rovers	Shanade Hopcroft (vs. Lewes)	Crystal Palace	[43][44][45]

References

1. "New brand identity". www.thefa.com.
2. Rampling, Ali (28 April 2023). "Women's National League gains extra promotion spot from 2023-24". The Athletic.
3. "'This defeat didn't define our season but it certainly summed it up'". Watford Observer. 17 April 2024.
4. "Lewes relegated from Women's Championship as Crystal Palace win at Dripping Pan". Sussex Express. 21 April 2024.
5. Frith, Wilf (21 April 2024). "Crystal Palace Women champions elect of Barclays WSL - SheKicks". shekicks.net.
6. "Champions: The complete story of Palace Women's incredible season". Crystal Palace. 5 May 2024.
7. "Smith 'excited' as Bristol City return to WSL". BBC Sport. 23 April 2023.
8. "What next for Reading after relegation from WSL?". BBC Sport. 27 May 2023.
9. "Royals crowned champions after 3-2 win away at Aston Villa". www.thefa.com.
10. "Coventry United relegated from the Barclays Women's Championship". FAWSL Full-Time. 2 April 2023.
11. "Women: Nottingham Forest 0-1 Watford". www.watfordfc.com.
12. "Kelly Chambers set to leave the club for pastures new". Reading FC. 20 June 2023.
13. "Liam Gilbert takes the reins of Reading FC Women". Reading FC. 18 August 2023.
14. "Italian legend Morace appointed head coach of London City Lionesses". FAWSL Full-Time. 4 July 2023.
15. "Palace Women appoint Laura Kaminski as head coach". Crystal Palace F.C. 14 July 2023.
16. "Blackburn Rovers Women appoint Simon Parker as head coach". Lancashire Telegraph. 17 July 2023.
17. "Club Statement: Jonathan Morgan". Sheffield United FC. 2 February 2024.
18. "London City Lionesses part company with Carolina Morace & Nicola Williams". London City Lionesses. 7 February 2024.
19. "Birmingham City midfielder Allen appointed London City Lionesses first team head coach". WSL Full-Time. 2 March 2024.
20. "Darren Carter leaves Blues Women". Birmingham City FC.
21. "Emily Simpkins to lead Blues Women against Crystal Palace". Birmingham City FC.
22. "Merricks named as new Birmingham boss". BBC Sport. 12 April 2024.
23. "Women's Championship Top Scorers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
24. "Laura Kaminski named Championship Manager of the Month". Crystal Palace F.C. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
25. "Blanchard wins Women's Championship POTM and GOTM". Crystal Palace F.C. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
26. "Mel Reay wins October Manager of the Month". Sunderland F.C. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
27. "Lucy Quinn wins monthly award". Birmingham City F.C. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
28. "Dennis wins Championship Goal of the Month for Charlton thunderbolt". Crystal Palace F.C. 7 November 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
29. "Karen Hills named November Manager of the Month". Charlton Athletic F.C. 8 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
30. "Gemma Lawley wins monthly award". Birmingham City F.C. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
31. "Guyatt wins Women's Championship Goal of the Month". Crystal Palace F.C. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
32. Barclays Women's Champions [@BarclaysWC] (17 January 2024). "In fantastic form for @WatfordFCWomen! Michelle Agyemang is the #BarclaysWC Player of the Month! 🤩" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 January 2024 – via Twitter.
33. "Lily Agg strike wins Goal of the Month". Birmingham City F.C. 17 January 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
34. "Karen Hills named January Manager of the Month". Charlton Athletic F.C. 9 February 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
35. "Emily Scarr wins Player of the Month award". Sunderland F.C. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
36. Barclays Women's Champions [@BarclaysWC] (13 February 2024). "Sensational strength and strike from Maria Farrugia 🤩 The #BarclaysWC Goal of the Month goes to the @LewesFCWomen midfielder's finish 🙌" (Tweet). Retrieved 2 March 2024 – via Twitter.
37. "Kaminski wins second Manager of the Month award". Crystal Palace F.C. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
38. "Atkinson wins Championship Player of the Month". Crystal Palace F.C. 7 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
39. Barclays Women's Championship [@BarclaysWC] (7 March 2024). "A cheeky finish from @emilyscarr11! Her goal against Lewes is the #BarclaysWC Goal of the Month 🤩 @SAFCWomen" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 March 2024 – via Twitter.
40. "Remi Allen named Barclays Women's Championship Manager of the Month for March 2024". London City Lionesses. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
41. "Maltese Maria Farrugia Awarded Barclays Women's Champion Player for March". Malta Daily. 19 April 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
42. Women FC, Durham (18 April 2024). "Beth Hepple wins Barclays Women's Championship Goal of the Month!". Durham Women FC. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
43. "Barclays Women's Championship Manager of the Month - April". League Managers Association. 10 May 2024. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
44. Barclays Women's Championship [@BarclaysWC] (7 May 2024). "Leading @RoversWFC to an unbeaten final month! @jadey_5 is the #BarclaysWC Player of the Month 🤩" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 June 2024 – via Twitter.
45. Barclays Women's Championship [@BarclaysWC] (7 May 2024). "A sensational strike for @cpfc_w! @shanadehopcroft's strike against Lewes is the #BarclaysWC Goal of the Month 🌟" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 June 2024 – via Twitter.

External links

• Official website