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Women's National League South

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FA Women's National League Southern Premier
Image
SportFootball
Founded1992
No. of teams12
CountriesImage England and
Image Wales
Most recent
champion
Watford (2 titles)
(2025–26)
Level on pyramid3
Promotion toWomen's Super League 2
Relegation toFA Women's National League Division One South West, FA Women's National League Division One South East
Current sports event 2026–27 FA Women's National League

The Women's National League South, currently known as the FA Women's National League Southern Premier is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern Premier division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super League and Women's Super League 2.

The league is played on a home and away basis, with each team playing each other twice, and points being awarded in the standard three points for a win format. The bottom two clubs are relegated, also on a geographical basis, to the Division One South West, and Division One South East.

For the 2023/24 season, changes were made meaning that two clubs would be relegated from the Women's Championship allowing one team each from National League Northern Premier and Southern Premier to be promoted to the Championship rather than having to play a season end playoff. This change resulted in two teams being relegated from the Championship at the end of the season.

Southern Premier Division teams are eligible to play in the Women's National League Cup as well as the Women's FA Cup.

Name

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It was known as the 'Women's Premier League Southern Division' before the 2018–19 season.[1]

Current teams (2025–26 season)

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Previous winners

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Season Club
1991–92 Arsenal
1992–93 District Line
1993–94 Bromley Borough
1994–95 Maidstone Tigress
1995–96 Southampton Saints
1996–97 Berkhamsted Town
1997–98 Ilkeston Town
1998–99 Reading Royals
1999–2000 Barry Town
2000–01Brighton & Hove Albion
2001–02Fulham
2002–03Bristol Rovers (later Bristol Academy, now Bristol City)
2003–04Bristol City (later AFC Team Bath, now defunct)
2004–05Chelsea
2005–06Cardiff City
2006–07Watford
2007–08Fulham
2008–09Millwall Lionesses
2009–10Barnet
2010–11Charlton Athletic
2011–12Portsmouth
2012–13Reading
2013–14Coventry City
Promotion to Women's Championship via NL play-off
2014–15Portsmouth
2015–16Brighton & Hove Albion
2016–17Tottenham Hotspur
2017–18Charlton Athletic
2018–19Coventry United
2019–20not awarded
2020–21not awarded
2021–22Southampton F.C.
2022–23Watford
Automatic promotion to Women's Super League 2
2023–24Portsmouth
2024–25 Ipswich Town
2025–26 Watford

From the 2014–15 season until the 2023–24 season, the winning team from the National League South took part in a play-off game against the winning team of the Northern Division of the National League. The overall winner of this match was promoted to the Women's Championship. The overall champions of the FA Women's National League, the teams promoted in this period, are marked in bold.[3]

From the 2023–24 season onwards, the English FA decided to remove the play-off between the two winners of the National League divisions, with both teams being promoted to the Women's Championship.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "FA Women's Championship: New name chosen for England's second tier". BBC. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "AFC Wimbledon Women's new home away from home". www.afcwimbledon.co.uk.
  3. ↑ "Statement: 2023-24 promotion and relegation". The Football Association. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  4. ↑ "Statement: 2023-24 promotion and relegation". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
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