2019–20 FA Women's Championship

FA Women's Championship
Season2019–20
ChampionsAston Villa
Matches played74
Goals scored247 (3.34 per match)
Top goalscorer15 goals
Katie Wilkinson, Sheffield United
Biggest home winSheffield United 7–1 Leicester City
(25 August 2019)
Biggest away winCrystal Palace 0–6 Aston Villa
(15 September 2019)
London City Lionesses 0–6 Durham
(29 September 2019)
Highest scoringSheffield United 7–1 Leicester City
(25 August 2019)

The 2019–20 FA Women's Championship was the second season of the rebranded FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England. It was renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. The season began on 18 August 2019.[1]

On 13 March 2020, in line with the FA's response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was announced the season was temporarily suspended until at least 3 April 2020.[2] Following further postponements, the season was ultimately ended prematurely on 25 May 2020 with immediate effect.[3][4]

On 5 June 2020, Aston Villa, who sat six points clear and had gone unbeaten in the season so far, were awarded the league title and promoted to the WSL on sporting merit after The FA Board's decision to award places on a points-per-game basis. Despite finishing last, Charlton Athletic were spared relegation after the seasons from tier three and below were null and voided and results had been expunged.[5][6]

Teams

class=notpageimage|
Location of clubs for the 2018–19 season

Twelve teams were originally scheduled to compete in the Championship for the 2019–20 season, an increase of one team from the previous season. This was a planned progression of the restructuring of the English women's game, a move prompted to provide for a fully professional Women's Super League (WSL) starting with the 2018–19 season. Membership of both the first and second tier is subject to a license, based on a series of off-the-field criteria.[7]

However, at the end of the 2018–19 Championship the top two teams, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, gained promotion to the WSL.[8] They were scheduled to be replaced by Yeovil Town, who were relegated from the WSL after finishing 11th in the 2018–19 season[9] but the team was denied a license in May 2019 and instead granted third tier status.[10] The two promoted teams were Blackburn Rovers, the winners of the 2018–19 FA Women's National League Northern Division,[11] and Coventry United, the winners of Southern Division.[12] As a result, the competition shall run with only 11 teams for the second consecutive season.

No teams were relegated from the Championship following 2018–19 season to facilitate the expansion from 11 to 12 teams.[13] However, because 11 teams only contested the 2019–20 season, the winners of the National League North and South divisions will both once again be promoted while one Championship team will be relegated.

On 13 May 2019, a Millwall FC statement[14] announced the Lionesses team was no longer affiliating itself with the men's team, instead forming an independent and fully professional breakaway team called London City Lionesses for the start of the 2019–20 season with the aim of transferring the operating license of the old Lionesses team. Millwall also announced their intention to retain its own women's team with the support of the Community Trust, eventually contesting the season in the fifth tier Eastern Region Women's Football League.[15][16][17]

Team Location Ground Capacity 2018–19 season
Aston Villa Boldmere Trevor Brown Memorial Ground 2,500 6th
Blackburn Rovers Bamber Bridge Irongate 3,000 WNL North, 1st
Charlton Athletic Bexley The Oakwood 1,180 3rd
Coventry United Coventry Butts Park Arena 4,000 WNL South, 1st
Crystal Palace Bromley Hayes Lane 5,000 10th
Durham Durham New Ferens Park 3,000 4th
Leicester City Quorn Farley Way Stadium 1,400 7th
Lewes Lewes The Dripping Pan 3,000 9th
London Bees Canons Park The Hive Stadium 5,176 8th
London City Lionesses Dartford Princes Park 4,100 N/A
Sheffield United Chesterfield Proact Stadium[a] 10,504 5th
  1. ^ Opening three home games played at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
London Bees England Rachel Yankey[18] Resigned 13 May 2019 Pre-season England Lee Burch[19] 9 July 2019
London City Lionesses England Chris Phillips[20] Sacked 15 October 2019 4th England John Bayer (interim)[20] 15 October 2019
Lewes Spain Fran Alonso[21] Signed by Celtic[22] 14 January 2020 8th England Simon Parker[21] 14 January 2020
Coventry United England Stuart Wilson[23] Sacked 20 February 2020 9th England Jay Bradford 20 February 2020

Table

In a change from the previous season, there was a one up one down system between the WSL and Championship meaning only the first placed team would be automatically promoted subject to obtaining a licence instead of two, with one WSL team relegated to take their place. Still with a view to expanding the top two tiers to twelve teams each by the start of the 2020–21 season, one Championship team would have been relegated and replaced by the winners of both the National League North and South divisions regardless of the result of the Championship play-off but again subject to obtaining a licence. However, while the movement between the WSL and Championship was honoured, there was no relegation or promotion between the Championship and National League after the seasons from tier three and below were null and voided and results had been expunged.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PPG Qualification
1 Aston Villa (C, P) 14 13 1 0 39 11 +28 40 2.86 Promotion to the WSL[a]
2 Sheffield United 14 11 1 2 46 16 +30 34 2.43
3 Durham 14 10 2 2 33 10 +23 32 2.29
4 London City Lionesses 15 8 2 5 25 24 +1 26 1.73
5 London Bees 12 4 3 5 16 19 −3 15 1.25
6 Leicester City 15 4 3 8 22 35 −13 15 1.00
7 Blackburn Rovers 12 3 1 8 13 25 −12 10 0.83
8 Lewes 12 2 3 7 10 18 −8 9 0.75
9 Crystal Palace 14 2 4 8 15 33 −18 10 0.71
10 Coventry United 14 2 3 9 19 35 −16 9 0.64
11 Charlton Athletic 12 0 7 5 9 21 −12 7 0.58
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Dependent on obtaining a licence.

Results

Home \ Away AST BLB CHA COV CRY DUR LCW LEW LON LCL SHU
Aston Villa — 2–1 3–0 4–0 – 1–1 3–1 1–0 – 3–1 3–2
Blackburn Rovers – — – 2–2 2–0 0–2 1–2 – 0–1 – 2–3
Charlton Athletic 0–4 1–2 — 1–1 – – 1–1 0–0 – 0–2 –
Coventry United 2–3 – – — 3–2 2–3 – 1–2 – 1–2 0–5
Crystal Palace 0–6 – 1–1 0–0 — 1–4 1–3 – – 1–2 1–5
Durham – 0–1 2–0 – 2–1 — 1–0 3–0 3–1 1–1 –
Leicester City – 2–0 2–2 1–3 1–2 1–5 — 1–0 3–3 – 1–4
Lewes – 5–1 – – 1–1 – 0–3 — 0–0 – 1–2
London Bees 1–2 – 1–1 2–1 2–3 – – 2–1 — 0–2 –
London City Lionesses 2–3 – – 3–2 1–1 0–6 3–1 3–0 0–2 — 1–2
Sheffield United 0–1 5–1 2–2 5–1 – 1–0 7–1 – 3–1 – —
Source: FA WSL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

As of 23 February 2020
Rank Player Team Goals
1 England Katie Wilkinson Sheffield United 15
2 England Melissa Johnson Aston Villa 12
3 England Jade Pennock Sheffield United 10
4 England Shania Hayles Aston Villa 8
5 England Olivia Fergusson Sheffield United 7
England Beth Hepple Durham
England Molly Sharpe Durham
8 England Natasha Flint Blackburn Rovers 6
England Emma Follis Aston Villa
10 England Paige Bailey-Gayle Leicester City 5
England Ashleigh Goddard Crystal Palace
England Amber Hughes Coventry United
England Shannon O'Brien Coventry United
England Aimee Palmer Sheffield United
England Lauren Pickett London Bees
Scotland Lisa Robertson Durham

Awards

Monthly awards

Results of Manager of the Month as awarded by the League Managers Association. Number of awards in brackets. Results of Player of the Month voting as polled by FA Women's Championship. Number of nominations in brackets.

Month Manager of the Month Player of the Month Ref.
Manager Club Player Club
August England Gemma Davies Aston Villa England Melissa Johnson Aston Villa [24][25]
September England Lee Burch London Bees England Molly Sharpe Durham [26][27]
October England John Bayer London City Lionesses England Jade Pennock Sheffield United [28][29]
November England Carla Ward Sheffield United England Amber Hughes Coventry United [30][31]
December England Gemma Davies (2) Aston Villa England Katie Wilkinson (3) Sheffield United [32][33]
January England Lee Burch (2) London Bees Scotland Sarah Quantrill London Bees [34][35]
February England Paige Bailey-Gayle Leicester City [36]

Annual awards

The end of season awards were announced on 27 July 2020.[37][38][39]

Award Winner Club
Golden boot England Katie Wilkinson Sheffield United
Golden glove England Sian Rogers Aston Villa
Player of the season England Katie Wilkinson Sheffield United
Manager of the season England Gemma Davies Aston Villa

See also

References

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  14. ^ "Club Statement: Millwall Lionesses". www.millwallfc.co.uk.
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  22. ^ "Celtic appoint Fran Alonso as new women's team head coach". www.celticfc.net. Archived from the original on 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
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