2018–19 FA Women's Championship

FA Women's Championship
Season	2018–19
Champions	Manchester United
Matches played	110
Goals scored	394 (3.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	17 goals; Jessica Sigsworth, Manchester United
Biggest home win	Manchester United 9–0 London Bees; (6 January 2019)
Biggest away win	Aston Villa 0–12 Manchester United; (9 September 2018)
Highest scoring	Aston Villa 0–12 Manchester United; (9 September 2018)
	← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 FA Women's Championship was the first rebranded edition of the FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England, renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. The season ran from 8 September 2018 to 12 May 2019.^[1]

On 20 April 2019, Manchester United won the title, and promotion to the FA WSL, with two games to spare in their debut season after recording a 7–0 victory over Crystal Palace.^[2] Tottenham Hotspur subsequently secured second place and promotion following a 1–1 draw at Aston Villa in their penultimate fixture.^[3] Millwall Lionesses finished bottom but were spared relegation as the FA sought to expand both of the top two divisions to twelve teams each by 2019–20.

Teams

Location of clubs for the 2018–19 season

Eleven teams compete in the league. Following restructuring of the women's game in order to provide for a fully professional Women's Super League (WSL), membership of both the first and second tier is subject to a license, based on a series of off-the-field criteria. Existing WSL teams were first offered the opportunity to bid for licenses,^[4] with all applying FA WSL 2 clubs retaining their place in the second tier, except for Brighton & Hove Albion who were offered a place in the WSL.^[5] From the second tier, Oxford United and Watford did not apply for licenses.^[5]

This left up to two places in the WSL and up to five places in the Championship for applying clubs, of which one place in the Championship was reserved for the winners of the FA Women's Premier League Championship play-off, providing that club met the licensing criteria.^[4] Fifteen applications were received for both the top two tiers,^[5] and five of these applicants were accepted into the Championship: Manchester United, Lewes, Leicester City Women, Sheffield United as well as Premiership play-off winners, Charlton Athletic.^[6]

Sheffield announced on 24 June 2018 that it was withdrawing from the league ahead of the season, due to the financial commitments required by The Football Association proving too onerous.^[7] Doncaster Rovers Belles announced similarly on 12 July 2018.^[8] A place in the league was subsequently awarded to Crystal Palace.^[9]

Team	Location	Ground	Capacity	2017–18 season
Aston Villa	Tamworth	The Lamb Ground	4,000	9th
Charlton Athletic	Thamesmead	Bayliss Avenue	6,000	1st, WPL South
Crystal Palace	Bromley	Hayes Lane	5,000	3rd, WPL South
Durham	Durham	New Ferens Park	3,000	4th
Leicester City Women	Quorn	Farley Way Stadium	1,400	2nd, WPL North
Lewes	Lewes	The Dripping Pan	3,000	5th, WPL South
London Bees	Canons Park	The Hive Stadium	5,176	6th
Manchester United	Leigh	Leigh Sports Village	12,000	n/a
Millwall Lionesses	Dartford	Princes Park	2,500	3rd
Sheffield United	Sheffield	Olympic Legacy Park	2,000	3rd, WPL Div 1, Midlands
Tottenham Hotspur	Cheshunt	Cheshunt Stadium	3,000	7th

Table

For the inaugural season, the top two teams will be automatically promoted subject to obtaining a licence. There will be no relegation at the end of the campaign with a view to expanding the top two tiers to twelve teams each by 2019–20.^[10]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Manchester United (C, P)	20	18	1	1	98	7	+91	55	Promotion to the WSL^[a]
2	Tottenham Hotspur (P)	20	15	1	4	44	27	+17	46	Promotion to the WSL^[a]
3	Charlton Athletic	20	13	2	5	49	21	+28	41
4	Durham	20	11	6	3	37	16	+21	39
5	Sheffield United	20	11	1	8	35	31	+4	34
6	Aston Villa	20	6	8	6	30	39	−9	26
7	Leicester City	20	6	3	11	27	44	−17	21
8	London Bees	20	7	0	13	23	48	−25	21
9	Lewes	20	5	2	13	23	47	−24	17
10	Crystal Palace	20	3	2	15	14	44	−30	11
11	Millwall Lionesses	20	1	2	17	14	70	−56	5

Source: FA WSL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:

^ Dependent on obtaining a licence.

Results

Home \ Away	AST	CHA	CRY	DUR	LCW	LEW	LON	MNU	MIL	SHU	TOT
Aston Villa	—	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–2	1–3	0–12	2–0	5–1	1–1
Charlton Athletic	2–0	—	2–1	2–2	4–0	4–1	2–0	1–2	3–0	2–0	2–3
Crystal Palace	1–3	1–4	—	0–2	0–2	0–3	1–0	0–5	3–1	0–1	1–2
Durham	2–2	2–2	2–0	—	0–2	5–0	1–0	3–1	1–0	1–2	0–2
Leicester City	1–1	0–4	2–3	1–1	—	4–0	4–2	0–7	3–2	1–2	0–3
Lewes	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	4–3	—	0–2	0–2	2–0	0–3	1–3
London Bees	1–5	1–2	2–1	0–1	2–1	3–2	—	0–5	2–1	2–0	0–3
Manchester United	5–0	3–0	7–0	0–0	6–1	5–0	9–0	—	8–0	3–0	4–1
Millwall Lionesses	1–3	0–8	1–1	1–5	1–2	0–3	3–1	0–5	—	1–1	2–3
Sheffield United	4–1	2–3	2–0	0–2	1–0	3–2	4–1	0–4	6–0	—	1–2
Tottenham Hotspur	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–6	1–0	3–0	2–1	1–5	8–0	1–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 11 May 2019. Source: FA WSL
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

As of 11 May 2019

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Jessica Sigsworth	Manchester United	17
2	Rianna Dean	Tottenham Hotspur	14
	Elizabeta Ejupi	Charlton Athletic
	Lauren James	Manchester United
	Ella Toone	Manchester United
6	Mollie Green	Manchester United	13
7	Kit Graham	Charlton Athletic	12
8	Katie Zelem	Manchester United	10
9	Beth Hepple	Durham	8
	Jodie Hutton	Aston Villa
	Jade Pennock	Sheffield United

Awards

Player of the Month

Results of Player of the Month voting as polled by FA Women's Championship. Number of nominations in brackets.

Month	Winner		Nominated
Month	Player	Club	Player	Club
September^[11]	Lauren James	Manchester United	Rebecca Carter	Lewes
			Jessica Sigsworth	Manchester United
			Sarah Wiltshire	Tottenham Hotspur
October^[12]	Rianna Dean	Tottenham Hotspur	Rosie Axten	Leicester City
			Kit Graham	Charlton Athletic
			Sarah Wiltshire (2)	Tottenham Hotspur
November^[13]	Mollie Green	Manchester United	Sophie Barker	Sheffield United
			Abi Cottam	Durham
			Katie Startup	Charlton Athletic
December^[14]	Beth Hepple	Durham	Elizabeta Ejupi	Charlton Athletic
			Lily Agg	Charlton Athletic
			Emma Beckett	London Bees
January^[15]	Sarah Wiltshire (3)	Tottenham Hotspur	Rianna Dean (2)	Tottenham Hotspur
			Zoe Ness	Durham
			Evie Clarke	Millwall Lionesses
February^[16]	Ella Toone	Manchester United	Angela Addison	Tottenham Hotspur
			Gemma Bryan	Crystal Palace
			Evie Clarke (2)	Millwall Lionesses
March^[17]	Katie Zelem	Manchester United	Jade Pennock	Sheffield United
			Kit Graham (2)	Charlton Athletic
			Maddy Cusack	Sheffield United
April	Ashleigh Neville	Tottenham Hotspur	Danielle Cox	Sheffield United
			Charlie Devlin	Manchester United
			Lauren James (2)	Manchester United

LMA Manager of the Month

Results of Manager of the Month as awarded by the League Managers Association. Number of awards in brackets.

Month	Manager	Club
September	Karen Hills	Tottenham Hotspur
October	Lee Sanders	Durham
November	Casey Stoney	Manchester United
January	Karen Hills (2)	Tottenham Hotspur
February	Casey Stoney (2)	Manchester United
March	Carla Ward	Sheffield United
April	Casey Stoney (3)	Manchester United

References

^ "Fixtures". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
^ Man Utd Women 7–0 Crystal Palace Ladies: Women's Championship title sealed by win Archived 2020-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, from BBCSport.co.uk.
^ Record attendance for Women’s FA Cup final expected at Wembley, from the guardian.com.
^ ^a ^b "Women's Pyramid Restructure: Q&A With Katie Brazier". The FA. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Women's Super League: 15 clubs apply for WSL and Women's Championship licences - BBC Sport". bbc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
^ "Manchester United get Women's Championship licence; West Ham join top flight". 28 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
^ "Club Statement". Sheffield FC Ladies. 24 June 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
^ "Club Statement". Doncaster Rovers Belles. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
^ "CLUB STATEMENT: FA Women's Championship". Crystal Palace Ladies FC. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
^ "Women's Super League: New full-time, professional era - all you need to know". 2018-09-09. Archived from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
^ "Man Utd's Lauren James named player of the month". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
^ "Rianna Dean wins player of the month award". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
^ "Mollie Green wins player of the month award". Twitter.
^ "NEWS: Hepple Scoops Player of the Month". durham.fawsl.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
^ "Sarah Wiltshire wins Player of the Month award". Tottenham Hotspur. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-02-27.
^ "Stoney wins Manager of the Month award". www.manutd.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-24. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
^ "Zelem wins March POTM prize". www.manutd.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-29. Retrieved 2019-04-10.

External links

Official website

[table_note_res_CL0.28033922439457-11] Dependent on obtaining a licence.

[1] "Fixtures". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 2018-08-26. Retrieved 2019-02-27.

[2] Man Utd Women 7–0 Crystal Palace Ladies: Women's Championship title sealed by win Archived 2020-04-08 at the Wayback Machine, from BBCSport.co.uk.

[3] Record attendance for Women’s FA Cup final expected at Wembley, from the guardian.com.

[Brazier_FAQ-4] "Women's Pyramid Restructure: Q&A With Katie Brazier". The FA. Archived from the original on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.

[bbc2-5] "Women's Super League: 15 clubs apply for WSL and Women's Championship licences - BBC Sport". bbc.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.

[6] "Manchester United get Women's Championship licence; West Ham join top flight". 28 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2018 – via www.bbc.com.

[7] "Club Statement". Sheffield FC Ladies. 24 June 2018. Archived from the original on 24 June 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.

[8] "Club Statement". Doncaster Rovers Belles. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 12 July 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2018.

[9] "CLUB STATEMENT: FA Women's Championship". Crystal Palace Ladies FC. 12 July 2018. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2018.

[10] "Women's Super League: New full-time, professional era - all you need to know". 2018-09-09. Archived from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2019-03-24.

[12] "Man Utd's Lauren James named player of the month". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2019-02-27.

[13] "Rianna Dean wins player of the month award". womenscompetitions.thefa.com. Retrieved 2019-02-27.

[14] "Mollie Green wins player of the month award". Twitter.

[15] "NEWS: Hepple Scoops Player of the Month". durham.fawsl.com. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-02-27.

[16] "Sarah Wiltshire wins Player of the Month award". Tottenham Hotspur. Archived from the original on 2019-02-28. Retrieved 2019-02-27.

[17] "Stoney wins Manager of the Month award". www.manutd.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-24. Retrieved 2019-03-24.

[18] "Zelem wins March POTM prize". www.manutd.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-29. Retrieved 2019-04-10.

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