Chelsea handed Women's Super League title on points-per-game basis

Liverpool have been relegated from the Women’s Super League and Chelsea awarded the title ahead of Manchester City after the table was decided on points per game.

The Football Association on Friday agreed to determine the WSL and Championship using that formula despite 28.1% of WSL fixtures and 32.7% of Championship fixtures not having be played.

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City were a point ahead of Chelsea when the season was suspended but had played a game more. Both clubs will participate in the Champions League next season and City said they “understand and accept the method used”.

Liverpool, who were bottom on six points, one point behind Birmingham, who had a game in hand, and three points behind Bristol City, expressed disappointment at their relegation.

“We believe we would have been able to meet all operational requirements but a return to play was deemed impractical,” the club said. “As proud founder members of the WSL, our fans greatly value our position within the league and we hoped for the opportunity to secure our status on the pitch.”

Aston Villa, six points clear of Sheffield United at the top of the Championship, have been crowned champions and promoted. Their head coach, Gemma Davies, said: “For every player, staff member and supporter, promotion to the Super League is the realisation of a dream that we’ve all worked so hard to achieve.”

Chelsea have been awarded the title despite not having played every team in the division. The FA’s head of the professional women’s game, Kelly Simmons, said: “The FA board was tasked with identifying the most suitable conclusion of the 2019/20 season, based on sporting merit, and they reached a majority decision on agreeing a basic points-per-game [PPG] basis, which did not take into account home and away form.”

She added of Liverpool’s plight: “We entirely sympathise that this decision will cause frustration and disappointment.”

The announcement of the league’s conclusion on 25 May came in the week of the Frauen Bundesliga’s restart and the NWSL saying it would be the first sport to resume in the US, and this led to frustrations that Simmons sought to address.

“The season ending early gives us the time to plan to come back bigger and better for the 2020-21 season, and we are determined to ensure we don’t lose the momentum generated before the country went into lockdown,” she said.

Simmons added: “I’m often asked to compare the women’s game with the men’s professional game. The truth is that you can’t. It would not be a fair comparison at this stage of the development of the women’s game. The Barclays FA Women’s Super League is the only fully professional women’s league in Europe, and we are incredibly proud of how far it has come on, but we have to remember that it has only been professional for two seasons.”

Liverpool’s women’s team dropping out of the top flight comes on the day the Premier League Project Restart fixtures were announced, highlighting the potential days on which Liverpool’s men’s team could clinch their first league title in 30 years.

Clubs in the professional top tier and semi-professional second tier were asked whether they would be able to meet the logistical and financial requirements to complete the 2019-20 season, whether the leagues should be terminated and, if so, how they should be concluded. It is believed that only Liverpool said they would be willing and able to complete.

Simmons said the priority from the off was “the welfare of players and clubs” and defended the pace of decision-making that has frustrated players, clubs and fans. “This process did take time; however, it was important that we waited for the government advice on returning to training and matches.”