2021–22 Scottish Women's Premier League

This article is about the top division of the competition. For the lower division, see 2021–22 Scottish Women's Premier League 2.
Scottish Women's Premier League 1
Season2021–22
ChampionsRangers (1st title)
Matches played135
Goals scored481 (3.56 per match)
Biggest home winGlasgow City 10–1 Aberdeen
Glasgow City 9–0 Spartans
Biggest away winHamilton Academical 0–7 Rangers
Partick Thistle 0–7 Celtic
Highest scoringGlasgow City 10–1 Aberdeen (11 goals)
Longest unbeaten runRangers (27 games)

The 2021–22 Scottish Women's Premier League was the 21st season of the SWPL, the highest division of women's football in Scotland since 2002. The season was played with 10 teams;[1] original participants Forfar Farmington resigned suddenly in August 2021[2] and Partick Thistle were elevated to SWPL 1 to maintain an even number of teams (leaving SWPL 2 one short).

The league season started on 5 September 2021 and ended on 15 May 2022.[3] The competition was known as the Scottish Building Society Scottish Women's Premier League for sponsorship reasons,[4] then as the Park's Motor Group Scottish Women's Premier League from November 2021.[5] Glasgow City were the defending champions of 14 consecutive seasons.

In February 2022, Glasgow City lost 3–1 away to Rangers in a pivotal fixture;[6] a 0–0 draw in the reverse fixture on 8 May gave Rangers the SWPL 1 championship, their first Scottish women's title.[7] The Gers finished seven points ahead of Glasgow City and only dropped four points, via two draws against the deposed champions, defeating all other opponents three times for an unbeaten season. They also qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time.[8]

No clubs were relegated from SWPL 1 and two promoted from SWPL 2 due to divisional expansion to 12 teams for the 2022–23 season.[9] The league's first promotion/relegation play-off had been planned[10] until the expansion was confirmed in April 2022[9] following the SWPL clubs' majority vote to leave SWF for the SPFL in February.[11]

Teams

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Team Location Head coach Home ground Capacity 2020–21 position
Aberdeen Cove Bay Scotland Emma Hunter
Scotland Gavin Beith		 Balmoral Stadium 2,602 1st in SWPL 2
Celtic Airdrie Spain Fran Alonso Excelsior Stadium 10,101 2nd
Glasgow City Springburn Republic of Ireland Eileen Gleeson Petershill Park 1,000 1st
Hamilton Academical Hamilton Scotland Gary Doctor New Douglas Park 6,018 2nd in SWPL 2
Heart of Midlothian Edinburgh Spain Eva Olid Oriam 1,000 8th
Hibernian Livingston Scotland Dean Gibson Almondvale Stadium 3,000 4th
Motherwell Motherwell Scotland Stewart Hall
Scotland Willie Kinniburgh (interim)		 Alliance Park 500 6th
Partick Thistle Springburn Scotland Brian Graham Petershill Park 1,000 3rd in SWPL 2
Rangers Milngavie Scotland Malky Thomson Rangers Training Centre 500 3rd
Spartans Edinburgh Scotland Debbi McCulloch Ainslie Park 3,000 5th

Source: [12]

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Locations of teams in the SWPL

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Rangers (C, Q) 27 25 2 0 97 11 +86 77 Qualification for the Champions League first round
2 Glasgow City (Q) 27 22 4 1 89 13 +76 70
3 Celtic 27 19 3 5 85 22 +63 60
4 Hibernian 27 13 4 10 46 32 +14 43
5 Aberdeen 27 9 2 16 39 69 −30 29
6 Spartans 27 6 10 11 28 54 −26 28
7 Motherwell 27 8 3 16 31 75 −44 27
8 Heart of Midlothian 27 6 2 19 20 66 −46 20
9 Partick Thistle 27 4 6 17 29 70 −41 18
10 Hamilton Academical 27 3 4 20 17 69 −52 13
Source: [13]
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated

Results

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References

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  1. ^ "SWPL: No relegation this season with top flight to expand to 10 teams". BBC Sport. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Forfar Farmington a sorry casualty of the professional era". The Herald. 15 Aug 2021. Archived from the original on 15 Aug 2021.
  3. ^ "2021/22 SWPL Fixtures released". Scottish Women's Football. 20 July 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  4. ^ "League start date announced [2020]". SWF. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  5. ^ Diamond, Drew (22 November 2021). "Historic new sponsorship deal for Scottish top flight". Her Football Hub. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Rangers on course for first-ever SWPL 1 title after defeating Glasgow City". The Herald. Archived from the original on 6 Feb 2022.
  7. ^ Goodwin, Sophie (8 May 2022). "Aberdeen Women beaten 4-1 by Hibernian in penultimate weekend of SWPL 1". The Press and Journal. Archived from the original on 9 May 2022.
  8. ^ Rangers end 14 years of Glasgow City dominance with historic SWPL title win, Rangers News, 8 May 2022
  9. ^ a b "SWPL top flight expanding to 12 teams for next season". BBC Sport. 1 Apr 2022.
  10. ^ "New Senior Structure for 2020 and beyond". SWPL. 19 Sep 2019. Retrieved 19 Feb 2020.
  11. ^ "SWPL to be administered by the SPFL for season 2022/23". Scottish Women's Football. 15 Feb 2022. Archived from the original on 15 Feb 2022.
  12. ^ "Scottish Women's Premier League". Scottish Women's Premier League. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  13. ^ "Summary – SWPL1". SWPL Website. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  14. ^ a b "Summary – SWPL1". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
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