Manchester City win first Women’s Super League title in a decade after Arsenal drop points

City suffered a disappointing 2024-25 season which saw them fail to qualify for the Champions League with a fourth-placed finish. However, there was no major overhaul to the squad, with only a handful of January signings including Grace Clinton, Sydney Lohmann and Sam Coffey adding to the team’s core which was largely in place last season.

City surpassed the 50-point mark for the third time since the WSL expanded to 11 teams in 2018, and could match their highest-ever recorded points tally of 55 if they beat West Ham on the final day. They previously hit that total in 2023-24 and 2020-21.

Jeglertz’s side could also secure a domestic double this season, as they remain in contention to win the FA Cup for the first time in six years. City face Chelsea in the semi-final on May 10, with Liverpool against Brighton in the other semi-final.

How did the unlikely winners do it?

Analysis by Megan Feringa

It’s important to state here: Few, if anyone, tipped City to be crowned WSL champions at the start of the season.

Andree Jeglertz, despite his two decades in the game, arrived in England as a relative unknown. City had finished fourth in the WSL last season, finishing without a full-time manager having sacked Gareth Taylor in March, nor any silverware in hand. Chelsea, meanwhile, had stomped to a sixth successive title, finishing the season unbeaten, while claiming the League Cup and FA Cup.

Arsenal were crowned European champions. City looked like a project in need of major work.

Yet, 12 months later, they have lifted the title.

The triumph is a combination of myriad factors: City’s squad being mostly fresh and healthy after being plagued by injuries last season; no European football testing the limits of their depth; a new manager unshackling a team previously working under the dogmatic possession principles of former manager Gareth Taylor and imbuing them with a clear sense of self belief.

But it is also testament to the project that City have been building for years under managing director Charlotte O’Neill and sporting director Therese Sjogran. Both women have played pivotal roles in making big decisions to push City forward, from O’Neill hiring Sjogran in December 2024 to backing Sjogran’s decision to part ways with Taylor just five days before a League Cup final against Chelsea and pursue Jeglertz late in the summer.

City’s victory ends Chelsea’s six-year league dominance, a tally of 2162 days in total. It is a feat that should be welcomed by the wider women’s football world. Hegemony does not capture imaginations and as women’s football grows, the importance of having multiple teams legitimately competing for the title is integral.

Arsenal did well to push City to the brink, Maanum’s second-half equaliser against Brighton setting up a nervy finish. Renee Slegers’ side will also feel aggrieved not to have had a penalty given them before Maanum’s equaliser. But Brighton have consistently been the team capable of bending the title race to their whim. After defeating City two weeks ago, it’s fitting they be the team that gifts the title back to them.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Manchester City, Women's Soccer

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