London City Lionesses were promoted in May 2025 after winning Women's Super League 2
Published March 4, 2026 • Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c80jjk29plxo
The Women's Super League promotion play-off will be held at the home of the second-tier side on Saturday, 23 May at 12:30 BST, WSL Football have confirmed.
With the WSL expanding from 12 to 14 teams next year, the top two in WSL 2 will be automatically promoted and the side in third will host whoever finishes bottom of the top division.
Leicester currently prop up the WSL, albeit with a game in hand on Liverpool and West Ham, who they are one and two points behind respectively.
The race for promotion in the WSL 2 is shaping up for an exciting finish with six teams in the mix. Charlton have a nine-point lead over Birmingham, with Crystal Palace, Bristol City, Newcastle and Southampton all challenging.
It will be the first such fixture in the English women's game and will be shown live on BBC Two and Sky Sports.
The WSL have also announced the six games on this season's final day will kick-off at 13:00 GMT on Saturday, 16 May to avoid a clash with the men's FA Cup final.
While timings for the men's flagship event are yet to be announced, last season's match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City at Wembley began at 16:30 BST and there are no other Premier League games that day.
Meanwhile, the 2026-27 campaign will begin seven days earlier than this season, on the weekend of 4-6 September.
Teams will therefore play 26 league games rather than 22 before finishing their seasons on the 22-23 May 2027.
Ben Haines, Ellen White and Jen Beattie are back for another season of the Women's Football Weekly podcast. New episodes drop every Tuesday on BBC Sounds, plus find interviews and extra content from the Women's Super League and beyond on the Women's Football Weekly feed