Sonia Bompastor picked up where Emma Hayes left off and delivered a sixth triumph in a row last year. Will anything change in the 2025-26 season?
It's six years since a team other than Chelsea lifted the Women's Super League title, when Arsenal, once the dominant domestic force, ended their unprecedented seven-year wait for the trophy. The Gunners are the most successful English women's team in history and used to sweep up the honours. Indeed, their 2007 season is historic, as the only quadruple-winning campaign for an English team ever. But their last WSL triumph represents one of just two seasons since 2015 that have ended without Chelsea being crowned champions of England.
Last year, the perception was that the Blues were vulnerable. After over a decade at the helm, Emma Hayes departed at the end of the 2023-24 campaign and she did so having won just one piece of silverware. In terms of trophies, it was Chelsea's worst season since 2019, when they didn't lift any. As Sonia Bompastor came in to fill some very big shoes, the feeling was that this could be a transitional year for the club and, as such, there would be opportunities for others to have success.
Bompastor's Blues made all that talk look incredibly foolish. In her first season in charge, the Frenchwoman guided Chelsea to a campaign of historic proportions. The WSL title was wrapped up at an earlier rate than ever before as they became the first team in the league's 22-game era to go a whole season without defeat – and triumphs in both the FA Cup and League Cup meant that added up to an unbeaten domestic campaign.
Yet, as the new season prepares to get underway, with the Blues kicking it all off in a blockbuster clash with Manchester City on Friday, those murmurs about someone other than Chelsea winning the WSL will inevitably return. Surely someone can stop them, right? Surely they can't win the title seven years in a row?
Getty ImagesDominant force
Perhaps, though, that is just wishful thinking from fans of Chelsea's rivals or onlookers who want to see someone else lift that trophy. After all, it's hard to argue against the idea that the Blues have got stronger this year. Ellie Carpenter arrives as a genuinely world-class player who has big-game experience, having won two Champions League titles at Lyon. She looks set to play her prime years in London, too, given she is still only 25 years old. Alyssa Thompson, the uber-talented 20-year-old who already has 22 caps for the United States, is primed to follow her to the club.
But a lot of what makes Chelsea better is already in the building. For starters, it will be Bompastor's second year in charge, meaning she'll have a better understanding of her team and the players will have a greater grasp on what she wants compared to last time out. She'll have even more incredible talent at her disposal again, too.
Catarina Macario had her game time carefully managed last year, Naomi Girma could only play eight games after arriving for a record-breaking fee in January, Lauren James made just six league starts due to injuries, while Sam Kerr didn't get on the pitch at all after an ACL rupture.
"I do think that we'll get even better from just building that chemistry with people that perhaps didn't play as much last year, or are coming back from injury," Macario, who is “expecting to be free” of that meticulous – but vital – management of minutes this year, told GOAL. "We just have so much depth that it really allows us to push for every single title and add so much competition to our own team as well which, at the end of the day, is what allows us to be our very best selves when it comes to game day."
Chelsea have been a force for the past decade and the question doesn't feel like one of if they can keep up this remarkable rate of winning, but rather if anyone can join them at the level that they consistently produce, no matter the circumstances.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportAn obvious challenger
Fortunately, unlike some other big leagues in the women's game, there is serious and committed investment behind Chelsea as their rivals try to chase them down. This summer, no one has exemplified that more starkly than Arsenal, who made Olivia Smith the sport's first million-pound player back in July. That is the headline transfer of a smart window by the Gunners, who have also turned Chloe Kelly's loan deal into a permanent one and added necessary depth at full-back in Taylor Hinds.
There's no question that Arsenal's very top level allows them to compete with Chelsea for these big honours. This is a team that beat Barcelona in the Champions League final back in May, only a few weeks after the Catalans had thrashed the Blues 8-2 on aggregate in their semi-final tie. What the Gunners need to do, though, is ensure they get results even when they are not at their best. It's something Chelsea have mastered over the years, somehow finding a winning goal despite perhaps not deserving it. Arsenal, meanwhile, dropped too many unnecessary points last term as they finished a whopping 12 behind their London rivals.
There's reason to believe they can be better in that sense this time around. Seven of those dropped points came at the very start of 2024-25, before Jonas Eidevall left his role as head coach. When Renee Slegers came in, she helped bring much-improved consistency to the team, making small tweaks to improve performance to such an impressive degree that it eventually led to her getting the job permanently.
She's had more time to make her mark on this squad now, in terms of her ideas and shaping it with transfers. Throw in that European triumph and it does feel like Arsenal are ready to take a step forward.
Getty Images SportThe outsiders
Can the same be said of the side that clinched the third and final Champions League spot in last season's WSL? Manchester United occupied second place in the standings as the title run-in approached, but ultimately let it slip in poor fashion, winning just two of their last seven games to fall to third, meaning their season had to begin in the precarious European qualifiers last month.
Fortunately, the Red Devils were able to navigate a situation that has proven too sticky for both Arsenal and Man City in previous years and will fancy their chances of beating Brann in the third and final qualifying round, to progress to the Champions League proper for the first time. It would be a fantastic milestone for this team to hit, just a few months after they reached a third-successive FA Cup final. After only establishing this women’s team in 2018, United are getting better as they try to make up for lost time and join the big guns at the top of the English game.
However, it's hard to believe this squad will be capable of balancing the demands of Europe while also putting up a good showing in the WSL, as it has not been strengthened enough in the summer window. Julia Zigiotti Olme, who impressed in UWCL qualifying, and Fridolina Rolfo, who twice became a European champion at Barcelona, are both excellent signings, there is no doubt about that. Jess Park, seemingly on her way to the club from City, will be as well. But they are United's only additions.
There are candidates to take a leap, such as Canada international Simi Awujo, who spent last year bedding into the team, but if the Red Devils do have Champions League football on their schedule on a regular basis this term, that lack of depth – to be made worse by Grace Clinton’s imminent move to the blue side of Manchester in that sensational swap deal with Park – could prevent them from taking a big step forward in the WSL.
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Getty ImagesAdvantage over the rest?
And then there is Man City, who are hoping to benefit from missing out on Champions League football altogether. Last season was one to forget, as injuries to Lauren Hemp, Alex Greenwood, Vivianne Miedema, Khadija Shaw and more hampered a title charge that started well. The incredible decision to sack head coach Gareth Taylor just five days before the League Cup final then left them at a disadvantage for a genuine shot at a trophy, while not helping them achieve success in any of the other three competitions.
There is renewed energy at the club now, though. Andree Jeglertz is in as head coach and Yui Hasegawa, the world-class lynchpin at the base of midfield, is excited about the "new dimension" his approach will bring to a team that, despite so many setbacks, still had some real highs last year, including a win over Barcelona. "We still showed very good fight," she told GOAL.
If this squad can avoid such a damning injury crisis – and it would be incredibly concerning if another struck – it is capable of challenging for that WSL title, given the quality within it and the subtle but strong additions made, plus that lighter schedule.
Hasegawa clearly believes that, too. Asked about the team's aims for the season, she didn’t mince her words: "It's not that we have to finish in the top three, we have to finish at the top of the table. We don't have as many matches as last season and we can focus on the WSL and then the cups. I think we have more chances to win the title."