With the Women’s Super League set to expand to 14 teams next season, find out what that means for 2025/26.
As the new campaign beckons, we’ve rounded up the key things to be aware of ahead of our season opener against London City Lionesses on Saturday - make sure you join us by getting tickets!
Our home
Looking to build on last season’s average attendance of 34,110, we will play every WSL home game at Emirates Stadium, while Meadow Park in Borehamwood has been allocated for Women’s Champions League group games.
Domestic cup fixtures (FA Cup and League Cup) will also be at Meadow Park, which has officially been renamed to Mangata Developments Stadium (previously Mangata Pay UK Stadium).
Relegation play-off
To facilitate the expansion of the league next season, whichever team finishes bottom of the WSL in 2025/26 will face a play-off match against the team that finishes second in WSL 2 (formerly the Championship).
That will allow either the bottom-placed team to stay in the division, or two teams from the second tier to come up.
New broadcast deal
Sky announced last Tuesday that they’ve signed a new five-year broadcasting deal for the WSL, meaning Sky Sports will be showing 118 matches, 78 of them exclusively.
Elsewhere, 21 WSL matches will be shown across BBC TV and iPlayer, including our opening game against London City Lionesses.
BBC and Sky Sports will also be showing the League Cup final, while TNT Sports have broadcasting rights to the Women’s FA Cup.
A new opponent
After London City Lionesses won the 2024/25 Women’s Championship, they took Crystal Palace’s place in the top-flight and are now looking forward to their first-ever WSL campaign.
After they visit Emirates Stadium on the opening day, we will play them away from home on Sunday, March 15 at the Copperjax Community Stadium, which is in Bromley.
A new venue
It’s been all change at Everton across the summer, with the men’s team moving into the new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
That means that the women’s team, instead of playing at Walton Hall Park, will now play their home matches at Goodison Park going forward, providing our supporters with an opportunity to visit one of England’s most historic grounds.
Our game there will take place on Sunday, December 14.
Anything else to be aware of?
The winter break takes place from December 22 to January 4 this season, with the action resuming on January 10.
[Read more
2025/26 WSL summer round-up and opponent guide](https://www.arsenal.com/news/202526-wsl-summer-round-and-opponent-guide?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
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