Chelsea Rewrite WSL Records As They Secure Sixth Title In Succession

Just three days after the heartbreak of another UEFA Women’s Champions League elimination to FC Barcelona, Chelsea clinched another WSL title with two matches to spare.

Coupled with an unexpected defeat for second-placed Arsenal, Chelsea’s 1-0 victory away to third-placed Manchester United secured an unassailable margin for them at the top of the Women’s Super League. They have now won the English league title for a remarkable six seasons in a row.

Chelsea has become the first side to clinch the WSL title with two games still to play. Having also secured the championship in 2022 and 2024 with victories over Manchester United – a side they have never lost against in the league – they once more won the title against them yesterday.

Having already won the Women’s League Cup, Chelsea could win a second treble of domestic titles if they can also defeat Manchester United in this month’s Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. They previously achieved this at tbe end of the 2020/21 campaign.

To have done all this in their first season following the departure of long-term head coach Emma Hayes, who left to take charge of the United States Women’s National Team last summer, is all the more remarkable. New head coach Sonia Bompastor has become the first since the inaugural WSL campaign to win the English title in her first season in charge.

Having won the French league title with Olympique Lyonnais in each of her previous three league seasons, Bompastor has never known anything else than winning the title in all of her four seasons as a head coach. Speaking after the game, she was asked to assess how she rated her latest achievement.

“I don’t take a lot of time to reflect on myself, I always look forward to the future. To come as a new manager into the league, to come as a foreigner, to struggle a little bit with the language barrier and to be able to learn a lot about the club, the players and everything in England – to be able to win titles, it’s been a high achievement.”

Unbeaten since the start of the season, Chelsea has not lost any of their 20 games in the Women’s Super League during this campaign. With 17 wins and 3 draws, they have become the first side in the league’s history to remain undefeated during 20 games in a single season, beating the record of 19 games set by Manchester City in 2018/19.

With two matches still to play, Chelsea could complete an “invincible” season by completing the entire league season without defeat, something they have never achieved before in any of their previous eight title-winning campaigns.

To go undefeated would not be unprecedented in the WSL. Arsenal in 2012 (14 games) and Manchester City in 2016 (16 games) both went through the entire season without losing a game, but at a time when the league was smaller. For Chelsea to achieve this over the course of a 22-game season would be a first.

Their victory away at Manchester United was secured by a goal by Lucy Bronze, who was now been a league champion with five different clubs – Liverpool, Manchester City, Lyon, Barcelona and Chelsea. Captain Millie Bright now stands alone as the only player to win eight Women’s Super League titles, nine including the shortened 2017 WSL Spring Series.

It was Chelsea’s eighth away win of the campaign, matching their own club record for a fifth successive season. If they can win away at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, they will equal the league record, shared by Arsenal (2018/19) and Manchester United (2022/23) in winning nine games away from home in a season.

Currently on 54 points in the standings, two more wins in their final two games away to Spurs on Sunday and at home to Liverpool the next weekend will mean Chelsea will become the first-ever side to earn 60 points in a season. They previously set the league record with a total of 58 points during the 2022/23 season.

Nine points ahead of second-placed Arsenal, they will simultaneously maintain the largest winning margin in a Women’s Super League season eclipsing the seven points by which Arsenal won the title by in 2019.