Manchester City just ended Chelsea's six-title stranglehold on the Women's Super League — and it took them a decade to do it. That's the headline from a 2025-26 WSL season that delivered more genuine disorder than the competition has managed in years.
A new £65 million broadcast deal with Sky Sports and the BBC. Expansion to 14 teams on the horizon. England's European Championship win adding momentum behind the scenes. The conditions were set for change, and the season actually delivered it.
Brighton, Leicester, and a title race that stayed interesting
The most entertaining subplot came from Brighton, who spent the final weeks of the season playing kingmaker. Three games from the end, they beat City 3-2 — suddenly Arsenal were alive, and the title picture was scrambled. A 1-1 draw with Manchester United the following week killed United's European qualification hopes. Then, just as they'd handed Arsenal a lifeline, they took it straight back, denying the Gunners the three points they needed and gifting City the championship.
City won by four points in the end. Given how commanding they looked through most of the campaign, that margin feels narrower than it should have been.
For Chelsea, the pain is straightforward: they targeted domestic and European glory and finished with neither. Arsenal, coming off a Champions League win, were supposed to use this season as a launchpad to reclaim the WSL summit — instead they end it without a trophy, having failed to capitalise on Chelsea's stumble when it mattered most. Manchester United reached the Champions League quarter-finals on their debut in the competition proper, which is genuinely impressive, but missing out on next season's edition makes it feel like a dead end rather than a foundation.
And then there's Leicester. Coming off their best-ever WSL points tally, they sacked manager Amandine Miquel before the season started, handed the job to Rick Passmoor — whose win percentage of 20.5% and 0.87 points per game rank him fourth-worst among managers with 40-plus games in the competition — and promptly lost their last 11 matches in a row. The only clubs to post longer losing streaks in WSL history are Doncaster Rovers Belles and Yeovil Town. That's the company Leicester now keep.
The Khadija Shaw question will define the summer
Shaw won her third consecutive WSL Golden Boot and was central to everything City did this season. She's 29, in the form of her career, and Chelsea have reportedly offered her a contract worth at least £1 million per year. City want to keep her. Shaw says she wants to stay. But none of that means a resolution is close.
If seven-figure annual wages become a benchmark in the WSL, only a handful of clubs can realistically compete — and that imbalance could distort the transfer market for years. Agents will use Shaw's number as a floor, not a ceiling. Whether City can match or beat Chelsea's offer will shape not just the title race next season but the financial architecture of the women's game in England.
The WSL expands to 14 teams next season, a change that's been overdue for years. A longer calendar, new opponents, more football. Done carefully, it could be exactly what the league needs. Done badly, it overloads players already juggling international duty, Champions League, and domestic cups.
Shaw's situation will be resolved one way or another before the season starts. The question is whether City are still holding the Golden Boot when it does.
