Women’s Super League: Chelsea crowned champions on points-per-game as Liverpool relegated

Chelsea have been crowned champions and Liverpool have been relegated on a basic points-per-game system following the end of the Women’s Super League season.

The Football Association has also announced that WSL runners-up Manchester City will qualify for the Champions League while Aston Villa will be promoted from the Women’s Championship.

Both the WSL and Championship – the top two tiers of English women’s football – ended with immediate effect last week due to the coronavirus pandemic despite having played less than three-quarters of the campaign.

The FA said that curtailment of the season was “in the best interest of the women’s game” and had been agreed upon following “overwhelming feedback from the clubs”.

Unbeaten Chelsea were in second place upon the WSL’s postponement at the outset of the pandemic in March and were one point adrift of City, though the leaders had played one game more.

Emma Hayes’ side therefore leapfrog City to win their third WSL title with a 2.60 points-per-game (ppg) average, compared to City’s 2.50 ppg.

Chelsea would still have been crowned champions under a weighted points-per-game system accounting for the number of home and away matches played.

Bottom-of-the-league Liverpool already occupied the WSL’s single relegation place after winning just one of their 14 games this season and finish with a 0.43 ppg average.

In a club statement, Liverpool said they were “disappointed” with the decision on how to end the 2019-20 season, adding: ”The focus of our women’s team and staff since the beginning of the crisis was to be ready to return to WSL play when it was safe and proper to do so.

“We believe we would have been able to meet all operational requirements but a return to play was deemed impractical.”

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Kelly Simmons, the FA’s director of the women’s professional game, said that English football’s governing body understood any “frustration and disappointment” that the decision would cause but stressed that protecting clubs, players and women’s football at large was their paramount concern.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge that has had a devastating impact on many businesses and organisations – and it also stopped football in its tracks,” Simmons said in a statement.

“Our attention immediately switched away from fixtures, results and cup competitions to focus solely on the welfare of the players and clubs. This remained our priority throughout the process and will continue to remain our priority going forward.”

Alison McGovern, the shadow sports minister, this week questioned why domestic women’s football has stopped while the top two men’s divisions – the Premier League and Championship – plan to restart later this month.

Simmons said on Friday that after consulting with the clubs, there were “too many operational, logistical and financial obstacles” preventing a restart. “The overwhelming view was to prepare for and concentrate on coming back even stronger for the 2020-21 season,” she added.