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Chelsea begin their quest for a sixth straight Women’s Super League title at the dawn of a new era for English women’s football.
The 2024-25 campaign is the first since the WSL and Championship moved out from under the umbrella of the Football Association and under the control of a new, independent entity called Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL).
Led by CEO Nikki Doucet and backed by a £20m interest-free loan from the Premier League, WPLL is seeking to grow the top two tiers of the pyramid with the benefit of time, resource and personnel that was not possible under the old FA model.
As part of the new company, the FA has a special share and representation on the WPLL board, similar to what they have with the Premier League, but Doucet has remained adamant that the future of the women’s game must be forged from its own unique context.
While some hoped a new and lucrative long-term broadcast deal would be secured ahead of this season, WPLL have instead agreed a one-year rollover of a previous three-year agreement with Sky and the BBC widely believed to be worth about £24million.
As Doucet and her team continue to carve out what English women’s football culture looks and feels like in 2024, so too are clubs challenged with their own dilemmas.
The growing popularity of the league and its players has resulted in individual teams wrestling with how to balance historically important interactions with increasing demands on players’ time.
Chelsea have announced that Blues players will no longer be able to stop for autographs and selfies in or outside their Kingsmeadow home, promising more structured signing sessions and other events – something Manchester City already began to implement last season.
