Southampton: Saints’ application for Women’s Championship team denied
By Marc Walker
Southampton’s bid to have a Women’s Championship team have been denied after a restructuring of the FA Women’s first and second divisions.
They had applied to be in the FA Women’s Championship – the second tier below the FA Women’s Super League – but missed out to other teams.
West Ham Ladies, who had been in the second division, have been promoted to the Women’s Super League whilst Manchester United’s newly formed team have been place in the Championship.
The Saints have recently invested in a girls academy programme, which sees them with teams for every age group below Under-21s level. With participation levels for girls in football rising, they see it as an important step to offer expert coaching and development from their renowned academy system.
The restructuring of women’s football will see 11 professional teams operating in the Super League, with Saints missing out on a place in the semi-professional second tier that could have up to 12 teams in it.
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BREAKING Who’s in and out of the top two tiers of women’s football from next season:
— Suzy Wrack (@SuzyWrack) May 28, 2018
⬆️ West Ham have jumped up into the new top tier (Women’s Super League).
⬆️ Man United‘s new team are in tier two (Women’s Championships), Southampton’s new side misses out.
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It remains to be seen if they will put form a senior team to play in the third tier which is the Women’s Premier South, but the Saints are currently the only Premier League club without a senior women’s team affiliated.
Southampton were not the only club to miss out though. Both Derby County and Crystal Palace already have women’s teams set up and were not given a place in the league either.
Their potential place in the Championship was taken by Lewes; a smaller club from the Brighton area but who were perhaps more deserving of promotion with their longer running team.
If they had been successful with their application, Southampton would have been placed in a league with the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City.
The top-flight includes some of England’s bigger club’s, who invest large amounts of money for success in the women’s game too. These include Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.