Chelsea crowned Women's Super League champions as Liverpool relegated

Champions: Chelsea
Getty Images
David Lynch5 June 2020

Chelsea have been crowned Women's Super League champions, with Liverpool relegated to the second tier, after the FA confirmed the method of concluding the season.

The campaign was formally ended on May 25 after top-flight clubs agreed that a resumption would not be possible in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

The FA Board were subsequently tasked with deciding final league positions - a task made all the more difficult by tight races at both the top and bottom.

Chelsea sat in second behind Manchester City having played one game fewer, while Liverpool were just a point adrift of safety with eight games of their season still remaining.

But a points-per-game method sees Chelsea leapfrog City to claim their third title, and also casts the Reds into the second tier, with Aston Villa replacing them as Championship winners.

Getty Images

Upon confirmation of the news, Liverpool released a statement expressing their disappointment and stating that they feel the campaign could have been concluded on the pitch.

It read: "Liverpool FC is disappointed by today's decision on how the 2019-20 Women's Super League season has been concluded, which will see the Reds relegated to the Championship.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has presented huge, ongoing challenges around the world, the majority far more important than football.

"The focus of our women’s team and staff since the beginning of the crisis was to be ready to return to WSL play when it was safe and proper to do so.

"We believe we would have been able to meet all operational requirements but a return to play was deemed impractical.

"As proud founder members of the WSL, our fans greatly value our position within the league and we hoped for the opportunity to secure our status on the pitch.

"We enjoyed several notable firsts as a women’s team this season – including a first WSL game at Anfield – and we are committed to continuing to grow the women’s game in this country with our fellow teams.

"We wish all the WSL teams well and look forward to seeing them again soon.

"As a club we will continue to respond to the ongoing humanitarian needs caused by the pandemic and especially in providing support to various NHS initiatives and those experiencing food poverty and social isolation."

The FA have still to decide how the Women's FA Cup, which had reached the quarter-final stage, will be concluded.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in