Football tournament
The
Women's National League Cup
is an annual
English
football
cup competition, founded in 1991 by the
Women's Football Association (WFA)
. It was renamed the
FA Women's Premier League Cup
from 1994 to 2018.
The
first edition
of the Cup included clubs from the
1991?92 WFA National League Premier Division
and the winners were the second-tier
Arsenal
, who beat
Millwall
1?0 with a goal by
Naz Ball
. The
Football Association
assumed the running of the competition in 1994?95.
Clubs from league levels 1 and 2 competed in the Women's Premier League Cup tournament annually until 2009?10, with Arsenal the most frequent winners, in ten seasons.
From 2011 onwards, the top-league teams played in the
FA WSL
's
League Cup
instead. Since 2011, the most successful clubs in the Premier/National League Cup have been Tottenham and Blackburn with two final victories each.
The current Women's National League Cup is open to the 72 teams in the
FA Women's National League
?
Northern
and
Southern
divisions, plus the four regional Division One leagues.
[2]
It is the women's football equivalent to the men's
EFL Trophy
of third- and fourth-tier teams, although the competitions are organised by different governing bodies.
Format
[
edit
]
The competitions format has changed
[
when?
]
having previously also included a preceding group stage prior to the knockout rounds.
After the league restructuring of the Women's Premier League in 2015 up to 72 teams are eligible to participate. At first all teams are drawn against each other in the determining round. The winning teams then are drawn into either a preliminary round or directly into the first round of the cup. Thus 32 teams then play the first round.
[3]
The losers of the determining round play a preliminary round and then a round of 32 onwards for the
FA Women's National League Plate
, first played out in 2015?16.
1993 Wembley final
[
edit
]
The old Wembley Stadium
The
1992?93 competition
ended with a final at
Wembley Stadium
. Before a sparse crowd, Arsenal beat Knowsley United 3?0 to retain the trophy.
[4]
This was one of very few competitive women's club games known to have been held at the old Wembley Stadium; it also remains the only women's League Cup final to be played at Wembley.
The match was held prior to the
1993 Football League Third Division play-off final
. Arsenal manager
Vic Akers
recalled that the women's teams were not given use of the main dressing rooms.
[4]
List of seasons and finals
[
edit
]
Level 1 and 2 league cup competition
:
Season
|
Winner
|
Runner-up
|
Score
|
Venue
|
1991?92
|
Arsenal
|
Millwall Lionesses
|
1?0
|
Alt Park
, Huyton
|
1992?93
|
Arsenal
|
Knowsley United
|
3?0
|
Wembley
, London
|
1993?94
|
Arsenal
|
Doncaster Belles
|
4?0
|
Abbey Stadium
, Cambridge
|
1994?95
|
Wimbledon
|
Villa Aztecs
|
2?0
|
Butlin Road
, Rugby
|
1995?96
|
Wembley
|
Doncaster Belles
|
2?2 (5?3
pen.
)
|
Underhill Stadium
, Chipping Barnet
|
1996?97
|
Millwall Lionesses
|
Everton
|
2?1
|
Underhill Stadium
, Chipping Barnet
|
1997?98
|
Arsenal
|
Croydon
|
0?0 (4?2
pen.
)
|
Underhill Stadium
, Chipping Barnet
|
1998?99
|
Arsenal
|
Everton
|
3?1
|
Prenton Park
, Birkenhead
|
1999?2000
|
Arsenal
|
Croydon
|
4?1
|
Underhill Stadium
, Chipping Barnet
|
2000?01
|
Arsenal
|
Tranmere Rovers
|
3?0
|
Deva Stadium
, Chester
|
2001?02
|
Fulham
|
Birmingham City
|
7?1
|
Adams Park
, Wycombe
|
2002?03
|
Fulham
|
Arsenal
|
1?1
a.e.t.
(3?2
pen.
)
|
County Ground
, Swindon
|
2003?04
|
Charlton Athletic
|
Fulham
|
1?0
|
Underhill Stadium
, Chipping Barnet
|
2004?05
|
Arsenal
|
Charlton Athletic
|
3?0
|
Griffin Park
, Brentford
|
2005?06
|
Charlton Athletic
|
Arsenal
|
2?1
|
Adams Park
, Wycombe
|
2006?07
|
Arsenal
|
Leeds United
|
1?0
|
Glanford Park
, Scunthorpe
|
2007?08
|
Everton
|
Arsenal
|
1?0
|
Brisbane Road
, Leyton
|
2008?09
|
Arsenal
|
Doncaster Rovers Belles
|
5?0
|
Glanford Park
, Scunthorpe
|
2009?10
|
Leeds Carnegie
|
Everton
|
3?1
|
Spotland
, Rochdale
|
Level 2 and 3 cup competition:
Level 3 and 4 cup competition
(Women's Premier League Cup, renamed National League Cup in 2018?19):
Performance by club
[
edit
]
Club
|
Winners
|
Runners-up
|
Winning Years
|
Arsenal
|
10
|
3
|
1991?92, 1992?93, 1993?94, 1997?98, 1998?99, 1999?00, 2000?01, 2004?05, 2006?07, 2008?09
|
Croydon/
Charlton Athletic
|
3
|
3
|
2003?04, 2005?06, 2014?15
|
Fulham
|
2
|
1
|
2001?02, 2002?03
|
Wembley/Barnet
|
2
|
-
|
1995?96, 2010?11
|
Blackburn Rovers
|
2
|
-
|
2017?18, 2018?19
[7]
|
Tottenham Hotspur
|
2
|
-
|
2015?16, 2016?17
|
Leeds United
|
1
|
3
|
2009?2010
|
Everton
|
1
|
2
|
2007?08
|
Millwall Lionesses
|
1
|
1
|
1996?97
|
Villa Aztecs/
Aston Villa
|
1
|
1
|
2012?13
|
Sheffield
|
1
|
1
|
2013?14
|
Nottingham Forest
|
1
|
1
|
2022?23
|
Wimbledon
|
1
|
-
|
1994?95
|
Sunderland
|
1
|
-
|
2011?12
|
Southampton
|
1
|
-
|
2021?22
|
Hashtag United
|
1
|
-
|
2023-24
|
Doncaster Belles/
Doncaster Rovers Belles
|
-
|
3
|
|
Cardiff City
|
-
|
2
|
|
Knowsley United
|
-
|
1
|
|
Birmingham City
|
-
|
1
|
|
Tranmere Rovers
|
-
|
1
|
|
Leicester City
|
-
|
1
|
|
Crawley Wasps
|
-
|
1
|
|
Huddersfield Town
|
-
|
1
|
|
Watford
|
-
|
1
|
|
Newcastle United
|
-
|
1
|
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
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Seasons
| |
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Clubs
2022?23
| |
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Associated
competitions
| |
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National teams
| |
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League
competitions
| Levels 1?4
| |
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Levels 5?6
| |
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Levels 7?10
| |
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|
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Cup competitions
| |
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Awards
| |
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History
| |
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