After the joy of Euro 2025 continues to sweep the nation, thoughts are beginning to turn to the start of the 2025/26 Women's Super League season.
We’ll be looking to capitalise on last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League-winning campaign as we try to get our hands on the silverware for the first time in 2019, but what about those teams standing in our way?
Here’s all you need to know about our upcoming opponents, and how their summer transfer dealings have gone so far:
ASTON VILLA
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**Last season:** 6th
**Top scorer:** Rachel Daly (8)
**Best finish:** 5th (2022/23)
**Head coach:** Natalia Arroyo
**Stadium:** Villa Park
Villa have been in the top-flight since 2020, when they won promotion from the Championship. Carla Ward was at the helm for the majority of their time in the WSL, when they played most games at Walsall’s Bescot Stadium.
She was replaced by Robert de Pauw last season following a downturn in form, only for him to make way for interim head coach Shaun Goater, before he was replaced by Natalia Arroyo.
Villa were flying at the end of last season, winning their final five WSL game in a row, including a 5-2 victory over us in Birmingham. Whether they can break into the top four could depend on the success of summer signings Lynn Wilms, Ellie Roebuck, Jill Baijings, Lucia Kendall, and Oceane Deslandes.
We won’t see former Gunner Jordan Nobbs in the WSL this season, after she completed a move to Newcastle United.
BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION
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**Last season:** 5th
**Top scorer:** Fran Kirby, Nikita Parris (7)
**Best finish:** 5th (2024/25)
**Head coach:** Dario Vidosic
**Stadium:** Broadfield Stadium, Crawley
Last season was Brighton’s best in the WSL since they were promoted to the division in 2018, in no small part thanks to the efforts of Lionesses hero Michelle Agyemang, who was on loan with the Seagulls.
She netted five times across 22 games in all competitions, as Dario Vidosic’s side rose as high as third following a 1-0 win over Leicester City in November, completing a run of 13 points from a possible 18. They were no match for us in a 5-0 loss at Emirates Stadium in November but did beat us 4-2 in May.
This summer has seen the south coast outfit recruit Moeka Minami, Chiamaka Nnadozie and Manuela Vanegas, while last season’s joint top scorer Nikita Parris has moved to London City Lionesses.
CHELSEA
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**Last season:** 1st
**Top scorer:** Aggie Beever-Jones (9)
**Best finish:** 1st (2015, 2017/18, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
**Head coach:** Sonia Bompastor
**Stadium:** Kingsmeadow or Stamford Bridge
Chelsea have been the team to beat in the WSL for some time, winning the last six titles in a row.
Despite the departure of club legend Emma Hayes, the Blues showed no signs of slowing down under Sonia Bompastor, going unbeaten throughout the whole campaign, beating us 2-1 at Emirates Stadium and 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
It was an incredible season for the club, also winning the Adobe Women’s FA Cup and Subway Women’s League Cup. Their only defeats came in the Champions League to Manchester City and eventual runners-up Barcelona.
EVERTON
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**Last season:** 8th
**Top scorer:** Kelly Gago (5)
**Best finish:** 3rd (2011, 2012)
**Head coach:** Brian Sorensen
**Stadium:** Goodison Park
Supporters needn’t have worried about not being able to visit Goodison Park again, with Everton announcing that the women’s team will play there going forward.
The Toffees came third in the inaugural WSL season of 2011, and again in 2012, but were relegated in 2014. They returned in 2017 when Chloe Kelly was their top scorer in their first season back in the top-flight with five goals (10 in all competitions).
Brian Sorensen has been in charge since the 2022/23 season, taking Everton to 6th and 8th-place finishes at Walton Hall Park.
LEICESTER CITY
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**Last season:** 10th
**Top scorer:** Janice Cayman (4)
**Best finish:** 10th (2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25)
**Head coach:** Amandine Miquel
**Stadium:** King Power Stadium
Initially promoted to the WSL in 2021, the Foxes survived relegation by two points in the 2021/22 campaign and went five points clear of the drop zone the following season.
They comfortably stayed up by 12 points in 2023/24 and were 10 points clear of 12th place last time out, but the club will be hoping to set their sights higher than 10th going forward.
Last season’s meetings between us and Leicester resulted in 1-0 and 5-1 wins for our Gunners.
LIVERPOOL
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**Last season:** 7th
**Top scorer:** Olivia Smith (7)
**Best finish:** 1st (2013, 2014)
**Head coach:** Amber Whiteley
**Stadium:** Totally Wicked Stadium or Anfield
One of our summer recruits, Olivia Smith, was the top scorer for Liverpool with seven goals in the WSL last season and nine in all competitions. They’ll need to replace those goals if they’re to get back to the glory days of the mid-2010s, when Liverpool won back-to-back WSL titles.
Relegation came in 2020 but, since returning to the top-flight in 2022, the Reds have finished seventh, fourth and seventh again. We beat Liverpool 1-0 away from home and 4-0 at Emirates Stadium in the WSL, but they knocked us out of the FA Cup quarter-final at Borehamwood.
Kirsty Maclean, Rafaela Borggrafe, Sam Kerr and Lily Woodham are among their new recruits.
LONDON CITY LIONESSES
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**Last season:** 1st (Championship)
**Top scorer:** Isobel Goodwin (16)
**Best finish:** TBC
**Head coach:** Jocelyn Precheur
**Stadium:** Hayes Lane, Bromley
It’s been a remarkable rise for a club that was only founded in 2019 as a breakaway team from Millwall. The visitors for our first game of the season on September 6, London City Lionesses will compete in their first season in the WSL after winning the Championship last term.
There may be a couple of familiar faces at Emirates Stadium too, as we sold Freya Godfrey to the Lionesses earlier in the transfer window, while Teyah Goldie has also joined the club.
They won promotion by finishing two points above Birmingham City, where they lifted the trophy on the final day, under new manager Jocelyn Precheur.
MANCHESTER CITY
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**Last season:** 4th
**Top scorer:** Khadija Shaw (12)
**Best finish:** 1st (2016)
**Head coach:** Andree Jeglertz
**Stadium:** Joie Stadium
After just missing out on 2023/24’s WSL title to Chelsea on goal difference, City had a season of change last term.
Gareth Taylor remained in charge until March, when he was replaced by Nick Cushing on an interim basis. After defeat to Chelsea, there was an upturn in results, with City winning three and drawing two of their final five games - ultimately not enough to beat their local rivals Manchester United to the Champions League qualification places.
Khadija Shaw was firing on all cylinders as usual, but they did lose firepower with the loan departure of Chloe Kelly to ourselves.
In a bid to challenge for the title, this summer they’ve recruited Jade Rose, Iman Beney and Sydney Lohmann.
MANCHESTER UNITED
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**Last season:** 3rd
**Top scorer:** Elisabeth Terland (10)
**Best finish:** 2nd (2022/23)
**Head coach:** Marc Skinner
**Stadium:** Leigh Sports Village
The current Manchester United women’s club has only existed since 2018, and they quickly won promotion to the WSL one year later.
Their best finish came in 2022/23, when Mrac Skinner’s side finished second with 56 points, just two points shy of Chelsea. That was partly courtesy of the 10 goals from Alessia Russo, who would move to us in the following summer.
United were on great form between December and March last season, winning seven games in a row to rise to second, but a disappointing end to the campaign saw them fail to win any of the final four matches, ultimately finishing third and four points behind us.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
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**Last season:** 11th
**Top scorer:** Bethany England (8)
**Best finish:** 5th (2021/22)
**Head coach:** Martin Ho
**Stadium:** Brisbane Road or Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Promoted to the WSL in 2019, our north London neighbours came eighth in their inaugural term, back when they played at Barnet’s The Hive.
Rehanne Skinner took over and began 2021/22 with four wins in a row, going on to take Spurs to a record fifth-place finish, but they couldn’t replicate that next time around, falling to ninth as she was replaced by interim head coach Vicky Jepson.
Robert Vilahamn was appointed to take the side in a new direction and he managed to end his first season in sixth, before ending 2024/25 in a disappointing 11th place following a run of 10 games without a win.
Martin Ho has been tasked with turning around the club’s fortunes this season.
WEST HAM UNITED
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**Last season:** 9th
**Top scorer:** Shekiera Martinez (10)
**Best finish:** 6th (2021/22)
**Head coach:** Rehanne Skinner
**Stadium:** Chigwell Construction Stadium, Dagenham
A WSL team since 2018, West Ham were led by Matt Beard for their first term in the top-flight, climbing up to seventh. That was followed by eighth, ninth and sixth-place finishes, the latter under Olli Harder.
Paul Konchesky had them eighth at the end of 2022/23, before Rehanne Skinner took over and kept them off the bottom of the table by nine points, despite finishing 11th.
Last season was an improvement, but the Hammers will be hoping to challenge higher up the table now they’ve established themselves as a regular WSL side.
Ffion Morgan, formerly of Bristol City, has bolstered the ranks to help them do just that.
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