WSL teams who have qualified for the Women’s Champions League will not compete in the Women’s League Cup from next season, WSL Football have confirmed.
The teams that finish in the top three of the WSL secure a European spot for the following campaign, and as it currently stands, then enter the League Cup at the quarter-final stage.
However, from the 2026/27 season, those three teams will not compete in the cup, with WSL Football citing calendar concerns and wanting more game time for players lower down in the WSL table and in WSL2.
But there could be a situation where one of the three teams who have qualified for the Champions League do not compete in either Europe or the League Cup.
Only the WSL winners go straight in to the Champions League league phase, with the second and third place teams playing in qualification rounds to secure their spot.
If they are knocked out before the league phase and do not enter the newly created Women’s Europa League, then they will still not be allowed to play in the League Cup.
The announcement comes a day after the semi-final fixtures for this season’s competition, in which Manchester United and Chelsea beat Arsenal and Manchester City respectively.
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Highlights of the Women’s League Cup semi-final between Manchester City and Chelsea
Three of those four teams remain in the Champions League this season, with Manchester City not qualifying after finishing in fourth place last term.
Chelsea are the current holders and will mount their defence against Man Utd in the final on March 15 at Ashton Gate, with Marc Skinner’s side reaching their first League Cup final.
League Cup to take on ‘Swiss model’ and other proposed changes
WSL Football also confirmed other changes to shake up the League Cup from next season.
It will now take on the ‘Swiss model’ of a league phase leading into knockout rounds, similar to how the Champions League is currently played. However, due to a lack of time, there will be no knockout play-off phase.
This will give teams more games, increasing from a minimum of three or four to a guaranteed six fixtures, which WSL Football says will ‘create more narrative and more consistency from a player perspective and performance perspective’.
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Highlights of the Women’s League Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Manchester United
The league phase will remain regional – as the current League Cup group stages are – to help clubs with travel time and cost.
The name of the competition is likely to be changed from League Cup to. With it now not including every team in the league, the title would be ‘misleading’, but there are no indications yet of what it could be called.
The prize money offered is also yet to be decided, with WSL Football adding that it would depend on the competition’s commercial partners, who fund the winnings. Subway are the current sponsors of the League Cup.
A WSL Football spokesperson added: “It’s too early to give an indication, but the interest has been brilliant. Subway have been a fabulous partner and we’d love to keep working with them. There’s huge interest in partnering with our sport so we’re positively optimistic.”
WSL Football: We questioned the League Cup’s clarity of purpose
Discussing the plans, a WSL Football spokesperson said: “The calendar is one of the biggest constraints for women’s football globally. There is only so much space available – weekends – that we as a domestic league can work with.
“As we were working through what the secondary competition was, we were clear that it needed clarity of purpose.
“We’ve listened to fans, we’ve listened to the media, we’ve listened to our clubs and we felt like it didn’t have complete purpose with our Champions League teams entering at the quarter-final stages.
“We spoke at length with the FSA [Football Supporters’ Association] and a group of fans there and also our clubs in what they wanted to see what they wanted from the competition.
“We even put on the table ‘do we not have a secondary competition’. We’re one of the only ones that have an FA Cup and League Cup in women’s football.
“But the challenge we have today is the top players at the top clubs are getting loads of minutes and matches… there’s a real disparity and we wanted to close that gap.
“We spoke to the clubs about what they use the secondary competitions for and you see that it’s used for squad rotation, fringe players getting opportunities and injured players getting a run out.
“We felt that it was so important to continue to have that secondary competition. Because of the calendar, the only place we can run it is on midweek nights when European football happens. That then puts a constraint on European qualified clubs being part of that competition.
“We’re continuing to discuss the detail now with fans and with our commercial partners. This will continue now to go through a chain, which then ends up with the FA as the national governing body to make sure we can launch collectively ahead of the new season.”
