When Chelsea’s women’s football team take to the pitch for their first December match, it’s likely they’ll secure yet another three points to add to their winning run in what looks set to be a record-breaking season. Only eight games in, the gap between the Blues and the rest of the Women’s Super League (WSL) has already widened into a chasm. The defending champions look too good for the competition. Chelsea have won five titles in a row (and seven of the last 10).
Invincibles? This team is proving that dominance isn’t just a goal — it’s their standard. Chelsea’s female footballers sit five points ahead of Manchester City and if they win their next two matches — against Brighton and Leicester City — they’ll surpass Arsenal as record holders for the most successive wins at the beginning of a season. In Europe the team have already clinched their place in the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.
After the loss of their iconic coach Emma Hayes, who left her post after 12 years and eight WSL titles to become the United States’ women’s coach, the Blues’ new manager, Sonia Bompastor, has already made a name for herself as the first manager to win all eight of her first league matches. Should the team break more records, the impact may be seismic.
Since the league’s conception, four clubs – Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool – have won all the WSL titles. Even though Arsenal have three season titles, Liverpool two and Manchester City one, they all fall far short of Chelsea’s eight. The rest of the league has seemingly been cut adrift.
A major issue is the growing disparity across the WSL. The top four revenue-generating clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – accounted for 66% of the league’s total revenue in the 2022/23 season.
Unsurprisingly, the WSL’s leaders broadly mirror the men’s league’s Big Six, in part perhaps because Arsenal, Chelsea, and more recently both Manchester clubs, have invested the most in women’s football since the league was founded.
This summer the WSL and the Women’s Championship were taken over by a new company, the Women’s Professional Leagues Limited (WPLL), predominantly financed by a £20m loan from the men’s Premier League. Each of the 23 clubs – 12 in the WSL and 11 in the Championship – owns a stake. For the game to thrive it must be competitive.
What does the cash mean for smaller clubs? Will they ever be able to close the gap? Chelsea’s sale to the club’s parent company this summer hints at plans for further investment, potentially reinforcing their supremacy. The fiendishly complicated rules governing financial fair play often make it difficult to see what’s going on with the finances.
Money is transforming the women’s game. Deloitte reports Arsenal and Chelsea saw 2022-23 revenues of £10.9m and £8.8m respectively, boosted by their Champions League runs. Chelsea’s accounts benefited from 40,000 fans at Stamford Bridge for their May Champions League clash with Barcelona. The real question: is this growth sustainable, or the new normal?
Chelsea’s dominance is real and it should serve as a wake-up call for the league. Without addressing the financial gulf, the WSL risks becoming a predictable hierarchy rather than a competitive showcase for women’s football.
