The Women’s Soccer League season has come to a conclusion, and with this a new champion was crowned. It was still three familiar faces who ended the year at the top of the table, either guaranteeing Champions League football next season, or at least a chance at it.
Manchester City
A decade after their first WSL title, it was Manchester City who took home their second championship this season. It was an all-around dominant year for the club, having led the league in goals and goal differential, while also finishing with second least goals conceded.
Man City opened the season with a 2-1 loss to Chelsea and their championship-level squad. From that point on, they would rattle off 13 straight wins in WSL play, cementing themselves as the top dogs early and often. In the end, even though they would lose two more games on the year than Arsenal, the Sky Blues steamrolled to an outstanding 18 wins on the season, earning them a well-deserved championship.
Perhaps the storyline of the season for Man City, came with Khadija Shaw, who notched 21 goals and four assists across her 22 appearances. This remarkable season came as Shaw is expected to leave the club this summer after five years of incredible play in Manchester. If she does end up transferring, it’s hard to have less of a storybook ending to an incredible tenure.
After six straight years of Chelsea at the top of the mountain, it was nearly a picture-perfect season for Manchester City, who still have a chance at adding an FA Cup to the trophy case as well.
Arsenal
Despite finishing as runners-up to Manchester City, Arsenal put together a quality season, finishing second in the table. Their only loss of the season came to the aforementioned Man City in early October. Besides that game, they went undefeated in WSL play, notching 15 victories and six draws.
It was an all-around team effort for the Gunners, with many getting in on the goal contributions. However, it is impossible to ignore the stellar play from Alessia Russo on the season, who notched 13 goals, continuing her streak of seasons with 12 or more goals since transferring to Arsenal in 2023.
This Arsenal season came amidst a deep Champions League run as well, where they made it to the semifinals before narrowly losing on aggregate to OL Lyonnes. Unfortunately, this is the second straight year finishing as the WSL runners-up, and the seventh straight season finishing in the top three without a WSL Championship to show for it. The Gunners have been in the mix consistently, and are oh-so close to the first WSL title since 2019– but will have to wait another year to see if they can finally get back to the peak of English football.
Chelsea
At some point it felt like the Chelsea streak of WSL Championships had to end, and this was the year for that. After six straight seasons hoisting the title at the end of the season, the Chels found themselves in unfamiliar territory at the end of the season, having finished in third place.
The Chels struggled in the attack for much of the season, which many could attribute to key injuries towards the start of the season. Nonetheless, it was a positive first season for Alyssa Thompson with the Blues, accounting for 10 goal contributions. Additionally, Sam Kerr was a key contributor per the usual, who tied Thompson for the team lead in goals with seven. Kerr also found herself atop the Chelsea record books, tying the club record for goals scored ahead of her transfer away this summer.
Despite the season not being up to par for Chelsea standards, they were still very much in the mix atop the WSL table. With this, you can be assured that the club will be active in the transfer market this summer, looking to retool and get back to the mountaintop they had become accustomed to.
Featured image via @mancitywomen
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