A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 | |
| Founded | 25 October 2008 |
|---|---|
| First season | 2008–09 |
| Country | Australia (11 teams) |
| Other club(s) from | New Zealand (1 team) |
| Confederation | Asian Football Confederation |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| International cup(s) | AFC Women's Champions League |
| Current champions | Sydney FC (5th title) (2023–24) |
| Current premiers | Melbourne City (3rd title) (2023–24) |
| Most championships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| Most premierships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| TV partners |
|
| Website | aleagues.com.au |
| Current: 2023–24 A-League Women | |
A-League Women (currently known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federation Australia) and was originally composed of eight teams of which seven had an affiliation with an existing A-League Men's club. As of the 2022–23 season, the league is contested by twelve teams.[2] The league, as well as the A-League Men and A-League Youth are administered by the Australian Professional Leagues.[3]
Seasons now run from November to April and include a 22-round regular season and an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament involving the highest-placed teams, culminating in a Grand Final match. The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed "premiers" and the winner of the grand final is dubbed "champions". The premiers qualify for the AFC Women's Champions League, starting from the 2024–25 season.
Since the league's inaugural season, a total of five clubs have been crowned premiers and five clubs have been crowned champions. It has been currently running in a semi-professional basis, but talks about professionalisation have been emerging, beginning with the name change and placing of all women's clubs into one single Australian Professional Leagues operation and management in 2021, which served as the precursors for complete transition to professionalism of the A-League Women.[4][5]
Melbourne City are the current premiers, having won their third title; Sydney FC are the current champions, having won their fifth title.
History
Between 1996 and 2004 the Women's National Soccer League (WNSL) was Australia's top women's soccer league. In 2004 it was discontinued alongside the men's National Soccer League.
After Australia qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, head coach Tom Sermanni felt the establishment of a professional league was vital for continuing the development of players.[6] Football Federation Australia established the league the following year.[7] The W-League was initially composed of eight teams: Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory, and Sydney FC. Seven of the eight teams were affiliated with A-League clubs, and shared their names and colours to promote their brands. The eighth club was Canberra United.[8]
The W-League's inaugural season commenced on 25 October 2008, with Perth hosting Sydney at Members Equity Stadium.[9] After ten rounds, the regular season finished with Queensland Roar as the top-placed team, becoming the first W-League premiers, and advancing to the semi-finals along with the second-, third- and fourth-placed teams. Queensland faced Canberra in the 2009 W-League grand final, defeating them 2–0 to take the champions trophy.
Central Coast Mariners were forced to withdraw from the 2010–11 season due to a lack of funding,[10] but returned in 2023–24.[11]
When Western Sydney Wanderers joined the A-League for the 2012–13 season, they also entered a team into the W-League, returning the competition to eight teams. From 2012 to 2014, the W-League champion team qualified into an international competition, the International Women's Club Championship.
On 13 May 2015, Melbourne City were confirmed to compete in the W-League from the 2015–16 season.[12] The club had a remarkable inaugural season, winning all 12 of its regular season games and winning the Grand Final.[13]
From the inception of the competition the league was run by Football Federation Australia, the governing body for the sport in Australia. In July 2019, the FFA relinquished operational control of the league to each of the clubs, now represented by the Australian Professional Leagues.[14]
The league commenced a further expansion program starting in 2021, with Wellington Phoenix commencing in the 2021–22 season,[15] Western United for the 2022–23 season,[16] and Central Coast Mariners for the 2023–24 season.[11] Future expansion is planned for the 2025–26 season, after the award of a licence for an Auckland-based team for both A-League Men and Women.[17]
Crowds have improved remarkably in 2023, on the back of the Matildas performance in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The record A-League Women's crowd (including finals) was set on 14 October 2023, with the match between Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers drawing a crowd of 11,471.[18]
Around 15 April 2024, the 2023–24 A-League Women season become the most attended season of any women's sport in Australian history by recording a total attendance of 284,551;[19][20][21][22] the season finished with a final total attendance of 312,199.[23]
Competition format
The A-League Women regular season typically runs from November to April and consists of 20 games per team, with the highest ranked team winning the title of "Premier".[24] The top four teams in the regular season then advance to the single-game knockout semi-finals, with the Champion determined by the victor of the Grand Final.[25]
On 12 December 2022, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced that the grand finals for the 2022–23 and two subsequent seasons would be hosted in Sydney,[26] a move which received considerable backlash.[27][28] On 18 October 2023, the APL announced that the Grand Final hosting rights would revert back to the original format, and instead a new "Unite Round" was introduced, with a regular season round having all its games played in Sydney.[29]
Special events
Pride Round
Pride Cup is an Australian organisation dedicated to advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community in sport. It was founded in 2012 after former Australian rules footballer Jason Ball came out publicly as gay, and his club in Yarra Glen, Victoria showed their support by staging a "Pride Cup". This led to the establishment of the annual AFL Pride Game in 2016, and the idea soon spread to other codes.[30] After Adelaide United player Josh Cavallo became the first openly gay top-flight male footballer in October 2021, the A-League partnered with A-League Women to stage a single Pride men's and women's doubleheader during the 2021-22 season.[31]
On 24–26 February 2023, both the A-League Men and Women's competitions staged their first-ever Pride Round, the first occasion in which the leagues had "come together to recognise and promote inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community". Part proceeds from ticket sales across all of the round's fixtures were donated to Pride Cup.[31] In 2024, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced the continuation of the round, as well as providing inclusion training to all players and key stakeholders. The A-Leagues would be collaborating with the PFA and Pride Cup, who would help to deliver the training. The annual Pride Cup double-header between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory would take place in March, and several men's and women's teams would celebrate by engaging community groups and using indicators such as rainbow corner flags,armbands, special Pride kit and/or rainbow socks.[32]
Clubs
| Future clubs | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Founded | Joining |
| Auckland FC | Auckland, New Zealand | TBD | TBD | 2024 | 2025–26[33] |
Performance record
Performance and ranking of clubs based on their best regular season result in the W-League and A-League Women. The 2022–23 season is Western United's first season.