Chelsea Women fought back to come from behind and beat Manchester United 4-2 at Kingsmeadow on the last day of the season, ensuring the WSL trophy will be staying in west London for another year. The dramatic last day summed up a challenging season perfectly, as Hayes' side once again overcame adversity to be crowned champions.
Chelsea Women are the WSL Champion (Image- The Telegraph)
Chelsea Women were made to sweat before clinching a third consecutive Women's Super League title as they came from behind twice to beat Manchester United 4-2 and hold off Arsenal's challenge.
Sam Kerr scored two stunning volleys in the second half as Chelsea came from behind in a six-goal thriller.
Martha Thomas and Ella Toone struck either side of Erin Cuthbert's Chelsea equaliser as United battled to keep their hopes of Champions League football next season alive.
Kerr led the fightback by scoring within 60 seconds of the restart.
"In the first half I thought we were a bit nervous. I definitely felt nervous," said Kerr."In the second half it was just about playing how we play. That's why we're champions - when we play like that no one can stop us."
"Kerr scored her 20th goal of the season to secure the WSL Golden Boot for a second straight year, and it was arguably even better than the one she'd scored at the start of the half. The celebrations that followed showed that Chelsea knew the job was almost done, although there was still 25 minutes left on the clock.
By this stage, though, Chelsea were in complete control and the result was rarely in doubt. The performance in the second half had truly been that of champions, and the final whistle confirmed as much.
Champions of England yet again. But still Hayes and her players will want more, and with an FA Cup final to come next week, the celebrations of today will quickly give way to preparation for that one.
Arsenal finished just a point behind the champions after ending their season with a comfortable 2-0 win at West Ham.Manchester City's 4-0 victory at Reading also meant United's result was immaterial in the race for the Champions League as City took third spot.
Chelsea Women sign Naomi Girma for a world-record transfer fee
USWNT defender Naomi Girma was presented at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea Women roped her in after completing a world-record deal for a female footballer.
USWNT Defender Naomi Girma has joined Chelsea Women for a world-record transfer fee for a female footballer. The Women's Super League leaders paid €1 million to San Diego Wave FC to secure the services of the 24-year-old defender.
Girma was officially presented on the pitch by the Women’s Super League champions before Sunday’s 1-0 victory against Arsenal Women at Stamford Bridge.
The world record for the highest transfer fees paid for a female footballer was held by Bay FC, who paid €685,000 for Racheal Kundananji in February 2024.
Chelsea has broken the transfer world record and also surpassed the British transfer signing record as well, previously held by Mayra Ramirez, who signed for Chelsea for a €384,000 transfer fee.
Girma has also become the first-ever €1M signing in women's football.
Chelsea Women gaffer Sonia Bompastor has made her first January 2025 signing with Girma as she will enter the team roster after Chelsea defender Kadeisha Buchanan suffered an ACL tear injury in November 2024.
Naomi Girma played an integral part in USWNT's Olympic Gold-winning campaign in Paris last year and was also named the US Soccer’s female player of the year in 2023. She was also named the NWSL Defender of the Year in 2022 and 2023.
However, Girma has signed a huge 4-year deal until 2029 as Chelsea head of women’s football Paul Green affirmed his confidence in this signing.
Naomi is a world-class defender who is now coming into the prime years of her career.
Girma also expressed her excitement about joining the Blues as she stated to BBC Sport:
I'm so happy and really excited to be here. It doesn't feel real,
There are a lot of things about Chelsea that made me want to come here - the culture, the winning mentality, staff and players.
It's a top environment to learn and grow in. Right now, that's what I'm looking to do.
PFA Awards 2024 winners list: From Phil Foden, and Cole Palmer to Grace Clinton and Khadija Shaw, here are all the winners
From Phil Foden, and Cole Palmer to Grace Clinton and Khadija Shaw, here are all the winners from the PFA Awards 2024. Manchester City footballers dominated in both men's and women's categories.
Phil Foden and KhadijaBunny Shaw were named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year 2024 in men's and women's categories respectively in the recently concluded PFA Awards 2024 on Tuesday. Chelsea star Cole Palmer won the Men's PFA Young Player of the Year while Manchester United star Grace Clinton, who played for Spurs last season, won the Women's PFA Young Player of the Year. Here is the full PFA Awards 2024 winners list.
PFA Awards 2024 winners list
PFA Merit Award | Fara Williams and Dean Lewington
Fara Williams and Dean Lewington won the PFA Merit Award. Fara, a former midfielder, featured for clubs like Chelsea, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Liverpool and Arsenal in the Women's Super League and is also the most capped English women's player.
Meantime, Dean, the 40-year-old defender plays for EFL League Two club Milton Keynes Dons and was their interim head coach for a brief period in August 2021.
PFA League Two Player of the Year | Jodi Jones
Jodi Jones won the League Two Player of the Year for his outstanding 2023-24 season with Notts County. He scored 5 goals and assisted 23 times during the season.
PFA League One Player of the Year | Alfie May
The Birmingham striker scored 23 goals in League One last season to win the PFA League One Player of the Year award in the PFA Awards 2024.
PFA Championship Player of the Year | Crysencio Summerville
West Ham United's winger Crysencio Summerville won the Championship Player of the Year award for his outstanding 2023-24 season with Leeds United. The Netherlands U-21 star scored 20 goals in the Championship and assisted 9 times throughout the season.
Men's PFA Young Player of the Year | Cole Palmer
There was no chance for anyone other than Chelsea's Cole Palmer to win the Men's PFA Young Player of the Year award this year. The young attacking midfielder scored 22 goals and assisted 11 times in the 33 games in Premier League 2023-24 for Chelsea. The former UEFA Champions League winner with Manchester City was able to show his skills after joining Chelsea in September 2023.
Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo, Michael Olise, João Pedro, and Bukayo Saka were the other nominees for the award.
Women's PFA Young Player of the Year | Grace Clinton
The Manchester United player spent the whole season on loan with Tottenham Hotspur where she helped the Spurs to reach the Women's FA Cup final. Clinton scored 4 goals and assisted the same number of times to beat Maya Le Tissier, Lauren James, Aggie Beever-Jones, Khiara Keating, and Jess Park to win the award.
— Professional Footballers' Association (@PFA) August 20, 2024
Women's PFA Players’ Player of the Year | Khadija "Bunny" Shaw
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw was the Women's Super League 2023-24's top scorer with 22 goals in 25 games for Manchester City. The Jamaican striker scored three hat-tricks in the season as Manchester City finished runners-up to Chelsea in the WSL 2023-24.
During the stellar season, Shaw was also able to surpass Georgia Stanway to become Manchester City’s all-time women’s leading scorer with 72 goals.
She defeated Niamh Charles, Erin Cuthbert, Yui Hasegawa, Lauren Hemp and Lauren James to win the award.
Men's PFA Players’ Player of the Year | Phil Foden
Manchester City dominated the PFA Awards 2024 winners list as Phil Foden grabbed the Men's PFA Players' Player of the Year award. Foden's stunning season with City helped Pep Guardiola's men win a historic fourth consecutive Premier League title.
In the Premier League, Foden scored 19 goals while assisting 9 times. Meantime, the English star scored 27 goals from 53 appearances across all competitions helping the team win the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup 2023.
Foden defeated teammates Erling Haaland and Rodri, Martin Odegaard, Cole Palmer, and Ollie Watkins to win the award.
Women's Super League 2024-25 full fixture and schedule
The Women's Super League 2024-25 is set to begin from 22nd September 2024. Barclays has released a fixture but the exact times and dates of the matches are not out yet.
The Women's Super League 2024-25 (WSL 2024-25) is set to return on September 22, 2024, and it is going to be another exciting season. A jam-packed opening day will feature all the teams in action, with defending champions Chelsea hosting Aston Villa while Arsenal will face Manchester City in the opening game of the season. The battle for Champions League qualification will be thrilling to watch. Here's the fixture of the Women's Super League 2024-25 season.
After a four-month hiatus, the Women's Super League (WSL 2023-24) returns on Sunday and it looks set to be the biggest season yet following the record-breaking Women's World Cup.
A jam-packed opening day will feature all the teams in action, with last season's surprise package Aston Villa hosting runners-up Manchester United in the curtain raiser, which will be live on the BBC.
Champions Chelsea face London rivals Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in the evening fixture, while title challengers Arsenal could set a new WSL crowd record when they host Liverpool at Emirates Stadium.
So who are the favourites this time around? Will the battle for Champions League qualification be the most competitive yet? And how can you follow this season's action? Here's everything you need to know about the WSL 2023-24 season.
Both the title and relegation race last season went down to the final game, while Arsenal only pipped Manchester City to third and the final Champions League spot on goal difference.
But if the WSL managers are to be believed, this campaign could be even closer.
"I expect it to be the most competitive WSL 2023-24 season that has ever been," said Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall. "I think a lot of squads have been strengthening."
It's hard to look further than Chelsea for the title. Emma Hayes' side are bidding to finish top for the fifth year in a row, having won seven of the past nine WSL titles and having strengthened their squad over the summer.
"She's going for the quadruple - one million per cent," former Chelsea player Gilly Flaherty told the BBC's Football Daily podcast. "Of course the Champions League is the one thing that has eluded Emma, has eluded Chelsea.
"Chelsea's squad is one that any player in it could walk into any other WSL side and start."
However, of the established top-four members, only Manchester United are still in the Champions League along with Chelsea, which could give Arsenal and Manchester City an advantage with fewer games to negotiate.
Aston Villa, who proved to be the best of the rest last season, showed they were more than capable of holding their own against the big teams with league wins over City and Arsenal and they have recruited wisely once again.
"Success for me looks like continuing what we have been building," said Villa manager Carla Ward. "Now does that mean top four? No, it means trying to better what we did last year and continue to try to close the gap.
"Looking at the WSL and looking at how everyone's recruited and the investment that has gone in up and down the division, I have no doubt this is going to be one of the toughest WSLs yet so we needed to recruit, we needed to keep building."
While the other major leagues in Europe are up and running, managers, players and fans have had to wait until October for England's top flight to return.
The start comes days after an international break for the start of the Women's Nations League, and just six weeks after the World Cup final.
Leicester manager Willie Kirk expressed his irritation at having preparations for the opening day disrupted by international games. "It's a pain in the backside - I hate the international window," he said.
"I was a little bit frustrated we didn't start before the Nations League. I think every major league in Europe did apart from us. I don't know why we are any different."
Villa's Ward shares that frustration with international breaks, but did not want the league to start earlier as she feels too much is being asked of players.
"You'll probably not find anyone that moans more about international breaks more than me. If we're talking about player welfare, we have to do something.
"We forget that they're people and we have to start looking after them physically, mentally, emotionally."
But former England striker Ellen White believes that having lots of tired players could result in a more interesting league.
"There is going to be a lot of tiredness, a lot of fatigue," she said. "It's going to come into it maybe that first month or two - hopefully the results will be a bit crazy! That's what I want."
More record-breaking ticket sales
All the WSL clubs, except Leicester, broke a club or stadium attendance record last season and several may do so again this time round.
Arsenal have sold more than 50,000 tickets for Sunday's WSL 2023-24 opener at Emirates Stadium against Liverpool, which could break the WSL attendance record they set last season - last September they sold 53,737 tickets for their match against Tottenham which translated into an attendance of 47,367.
The #BarclaysWSL is back, with the world's best players ready for another epic title race.
In 2022-23, only West Ham did not play at their club's bigger stadium, usually reserved for their men's side, and teams are once again looking to stage more of their matches at their larger grounds.
Arsenal have confirmed at least five of their 11 WSL 2023-24 home games will be at their 60,000-plus capacity Emirates Stadium, compared with three last season. It will be one of three grounds usually used by the men's teams to feature on the opening weekend, along with Stamford Bridge and Villa Park.
What else to look out for?
Bristol City will play all their home games at 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate this season
Newly promoted Bristol City are no strangers to the top flight but a lot has changed for them since their relegation in 2021.
The club have switched home ground twice and moved to a new training facility, and changed head coach and appointed a much bigger backroom staff, as well as overhauling the playing squad.
"What we have done as a club is really professionalise how we are run, so our staffing has really increased since being relegated," said head coach Lauren Smith. "The game is moving so quickly so we have got to keep up."
The new season is just around the corner!
Read up on all the teams that make up the 2023-24 #BarclaysWSL 📖
While there will be plenty of faced new to the WSL on the pitch, including World Cup stars Hinata Miyazawa, Amanda Ilestedt, Daphne van Domselaar and Geyse, there have also been a couple of changes in the dugouts.
Rehanne Skinner, sacked by Tottenham in March, has replaced Paul Konchesky as West Ham manager.
Meanwhile Spurs, involved in a relegation battle last campaign, have gone for a manager new to the league in Swede Robert Vilahamn.
"Of course we want to be a top team in this league but the main thing is to start playing the kind of football that can take us up there," said Vilahamn.
Emma Hayes' Chelsea Women sealed the deal on Saturday, beating Manchester United to it on the final day, and it's their best one for several reasons.
It was a comfortable victory for the Blues and it was fitting that Sam Kerr and Guro Reiten delivered the goals after their performances this season played such a key role in Chelsea's success.
The two combined for the early opener as Reiten's cross was headed in by Kerr, before the Norwegian midfielder slotted past goalkeeper Grace Moloney to make it 2-0 before half-time.
Kerr confirmed victory in the closing stages when she raced through on goal and poked in the rebound after her initial shot was saved.
The Royals' eight-year stay in the top tier has come to an end but they have defied the odds for several seasons, competing with teams affiliated to Premier League clubs and on much larger budgets.
Blues win WSL after a comfortable victory (Image- BBC)
One more miracle was needed but they could not produce it, although fans stayed to applaud warmly after staff and players fell to their knees in disappointment at the full-time whistle.
Chelsea, meanwhile, show they have not loosened their grip on the WSL despite increasing competition from their rivals.
This title is perhaps their most impressive given they have had to fight off those challengers while dealing with injury setbacks and to manager Emma Hayes.
Their dominance on English women's football remains strong and a fourth league crown in a row is a significant achievement.
"You don't see many dynasties in world sport," was the musing at the start of the journalist's question. Before it could continue, Hayes interrupted with almost an embarrassed giggle, almost reluctant to associate herself with such a huge thing.
"Sometimes managers are not given that opportunity, but also not all of them have the stamina to know how to do it," the journalist added, before asking: "Do you think this is what you're building now?"
Hayes pondered and let out a sigh. "That's a good question," she replied, before reflecting on the work that goes into building a winning team like Chelsea's. She talked about not seeing her son as much as she might like and how she's given everything to this club to win 14 trophies in the last eight years.
That number is now 15. Chelsea's successful defence of their Women's Super League title is their fourth league triumph in a row. It's a feat that's not been done since the greatest dynasty in English women's football, that of Arsenal's incredible women's team under Vic Akers – where Hayes was his assistant.
The Chelsea Women boss might've been tentative to describe the success she has enjoyed on the blue side of London in the same grand terms you might relate to that team - but make no mistake, the achievements of her and her Chelsea team are well and truly remarkable.
Follow Us/sportzpoint/media/post_attachments/76b206cd8f16a71050f1e7a018b051464cf3829a675c5c4a018cc7c924f95830.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/media_files/KHk5oBGq0nvvh8Sx86Yq.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/media_files/Yl04ksRIDcDo5RtZ8Lvc.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/media_files/6Sd6BWJxKz6SGxQ2sNVH.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/media_files/vAFGqH0HjrJ98X45Rk9K.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/media_files/CnAnwtoqI2WIgGXxCcEh.jpeg)
/sportzpoint/media/post_attachments/2a6c60f6e19e86c26213c7b125affc15da5e1bb22a16ea8156ac4676a15c24de.jpg)
/sportzpoint/media/post_attachments/4059128c232aa1c18f61724455a7a848295685bbf56a8b5178cf52f4e80d77a3.jpg)
