Scotland Dispatch: Women's Football is Back!

This is a dispatch from Nuala Neary,Global Ambassador for Project: Wander Bra, based in Scotland. Our ambassadors provide global perspectives on the impact of sports, in partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation. Follow Nuala’s adventures @ncneary

The women’s football season here in Scotland is well and truly underway with the first games of the season being earlier this month. 

The league has gone through a few changes since its formation back in 2002. The first edition of the league was owned and managed by Scottish Women’s Football (SWF), then in 2007 it was taken over by the Scottish Football Association (SFA). During this period the league only consisted of eight teams that were not full-time professionals. Players and coaches had part-time jobs on top of their training and games. 

Finally, in 2022 the Scottish Women’s Premier League (SWPL) was formed with the goal of showcasing the league and creating an elite sporting environment. The SWPL increased the league to 12 teams and most importantly, the teams became full-time professionals. Five of these teams are led by female head coaches, with four of them being the top contenders at the end of the season. 

Women’s club football has been predominantly dominated by Glasgow City, winning 16 league titles, nine Scottish Cups (founded in 1970), and six Premier League Cups. Since players became full-time professionals, the gap between teams has closed and the league has become an exciting showcase of football. Last season brought a lot of excitement, and went right down to the wire with Celtic FC Women (looking for their first league title) and Rangers (Celtic's fierce rivals) level on points. But Celtic had the advantage due to their superior goal difference. Celtic, with a dramatic 90th-minute goal, lifted their first league title. 

The SWPL is growing in popularity with an increase of game day attendance and television views, but the league is still underrepresented compared to other leagues in the UK. Hopefully this will give people a glimpse into professional football in Scotland and increase interest from outside the country. 

The first game of this season was at the home of the defending champions, Celtic, who were up against relegation survivors Dundee United. The game was held at the iconic Celtic Park (commonly known to fans as Paradise). It is becoming more common for the women’s side to play there during the season. There was a fantastic buzz around the stadium. With anticipation for the start of a new season, fans gathered early around the front of the stadium to cheer the players on their arrival to the game. As the players warmed up and the stands began to fill, the starting eleven were announced and we got our first glimpse of some of the new signings. Four new signings were part of the starting eleven, which saw Irish forward Saoirse Noonan, Portuguese left back Bruna Lourenco, and Danish twins Mathilde and Signe Carsten all getting their debuts at Celtic Park. 

Before kick off, captain Kelly Clark, who has been at the club since 2013 alongside the team's ambassador, Rose Reilly, made their way to the podium to raise the league flag. This is a tradition that takes place on the first game of the season, where the defending champions raise the Scottish football flag in the club colors on the pitch to signify the start of a new season. This is the first time the women had their moment. 

They were followed on the pitch by vice captain Catilyn Hayes who brought the trophy by the flag podium with the rest of the squad following behind. Once the league flag was flying high, the teams shook hands and made their way to their starting positions with supporters on their feet. The supporters club had drums and megaphones, creating an excellent atmosphere on the opening day. 

Celtic from the start had fantastic control of the game, with Dundee United having to stay focused against the quick attacking football. It did not take long for Celtic to break Dundee United’s defense, and as the half-time whistle blew it was 3-0 to the home side. A circling top corner goal, a poaching header, and a lovely one-two into the bottom corner gave them their lead. The second half was more of the same, with the defending champions adding another six goals to their total —including two strikes from long distance, another header in the box, a guided ball into the roof of the net from a corner, and two close-range goals. At the final whistle with nine goals, a clean sheet, seven different goal scorers, and 80% of the possession, it was a formidable opening day of what will hopefully be yet another exciting season—and incredibly, for the third season in a row, Celtic had kicked off their campaign with a 9-0 win! 

As fans made their way to the exits I caught up with a member of the Celtic Women’s Supporters Club to get their thoughts on the game: 

“Absolutely buzzing to be back after the break and seeing friends again. It was great to see the team start from where they left off from last season and continue to elevate how they play, it was great to watch. Our new signings brought a lot of excitement today making our squad depth even stronger. I’m confident that we will get through our Champions League qualifiers, and hopefully that brings more interest in our league, too.” 

As we left the stadium, fans swarmed the front of the stadium for a chance to meet their heroes. All the players took their time around the fans, taking photos and signing autographs as they made their way around everyone. I was lucky enough to catch the Celtic head coach before leaving, who has always been very down-to-earth when engaging in conversation and providing coaching advice, which was very valuable for myself. Elena Sadiku was appointed to the head coach role halfway through last season when previous head coach Fran Alonso moved to Houston Dash. Sadiku is Celtic’s first female head coach, and at only 30 years old is inspiring the next generation of young female coaches. 

The SWPL has gotten off to a lively start with a mixture of high-scoring games and closely fought battles setting up for what will hopefully be a season just as exciting as the last. Outside of league games, next month Champions League qualifiers begin which will see 2 SWPL sides compete to get through to the group stages. The best way to keep up-to-date with all the latest in the SWPL is through their social media channels for fixtures, results, and highlights.