 | |
| Founded | 25 October 2008 |
|---|---|
| First season | 2008–09 |
| Country | Australia (11 teams) |
| Other club(s) from | New Zealand (1 team) |
| Confederation | Asian Football Confederation |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| International cup(s) | AFC Women's Champions League |
| Current champions | Sydney FC (5th title) (2023–24) |
| Current premiers | Melbourne City (3rd title) (2023–24) |
| Most championships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| Most premierships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| TV partners |
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| Website | aleagues.com.au |
| Current: 2024–25 A-League Women | |
A-League Women (currently known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons),[2] formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federation Australia) and was originally composed of eight teams of which seven had an affiliation with an existing A-League Men's club. As of the 2022–23 season, the league is contested by twelve teams.[3] The league, as well as the A-League Men and A-League Youth are administered by the Australian Professional Leagues.[4]
Seasons now run from November to April and include a 23-round regular season and an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament involving the highest-placed teams, culminating in a Grand Final match. The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed "premiers" and the winner of the grand final is dubbed "champions". The premiers qualify for the AFC Women's Champions League, starting from the 2024–25 season.
Since the league's inaugural season, a total of five clubs have been crowned premiers and five clubs have been crowned champions. It has been currently running on a semi-professional basis, but talks about professionalisation have been emerging, beginning with the name change and placing of all women's clubs into one single Australian Professional Leagues operation and management in 2021, which served as the precursors for complete transition to professionalism of the A-League Women.[5][6]
Melbourne City are the current premiers, having won their third title; Sydney FC are the current champions, having won their fifth title.
- ^ "Our International Broadcasters – KEEPUP". Archived from the original on 16 November 2021. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ Rosengarten, Jake (12 September 2024). "SharkNinja announced as new naming rights partner of the A-League Women". A-Leagues. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
- ^ "'A special day': Western United to join A-League Women next season". ABC News. 12 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ Official site Archived 30 September 2021 at the Wayback Machine on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
- ^ "W-League name scrapped as Australian soccer rebrands under A-Leagues banner". SportsPro. 29 September 2021. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ "History of Women's Football in Australia". Football Australia. 23 September 2021. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022.