 | |
| Organising body |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 25 October 2008; 17 years ago (25 October 2008) |
| First season | 2008–09 |
| Country | Australia (11 teams) |
| Other club from | New Zealand (1 team) |
| Confederation | Asian Football Confederation |
| Number of clubs | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| International cup | AFC Women's Champions League |
| Current champions | Central Coast Mariners (1st title) (2024–25) |
| Current premiers | Melbourne City (4th title) (2024–25) |
| Most championships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| Most premierships | Sydney FC (5 titles) |
| Broadcaster(s) |
|
| Website | aleagues.com.au |
| Current:2025–26 A-League Women | |
A-League Women (currently known as theNinja A-League for sponsorship reasons),[2] known as theW-League until September 2021, is the top-division women'ssoccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 byFootball Australia (then known as Football Federation Australia) and was originally composed of eight teams of which seven had an affiliation with an existingA-League Men's club. As of the 2022–23 season, the league is contested by twelve teams.[3] The league, as well as theA-League Men andA-League Youth are administered by theAustralian Professional Leagues.[4]
Seasons run from November to April and include a 23-roundregular season and an end-of-season finals seriesplayoff tournament involving the six highest-placed teams, culminating in aGrand Final match.[5] The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed "premier" and the winner of the grand final is dubbed "champion". The premiers qualify for theAFC Women's Champions League, starting from the2024–25 season.
Since the league'sinaugural season, a total of five clubs have been crownedpremiers and five clubs have been crownedchampions. 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 singleAustralian Professional Leagues operation and management in 2021, which served as the precursors for complete transition to professionalism of the A-League Women.[6][7]
Melbourne City are thecurrent premiers, having won their fourth title;Central Coast Mariners are the current champions, having won their first title.[8]
Between 1996 and 2004 theWomen's National Soccer League (WNSL) was Australia's top women'ssoccer league. In 2004 it was discontinued alongside the men's National Soccer League.
AfterAustralia qualified for the quarter-finals of the2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, head coachTom Sermanni felt the establishment of a professional league was vital for continuing the development of players.[9]Football Federation Australia established the league the following year.[10] The W-League was initially composed of eight teams:Adelaide United,Brisbane Roar,Central Coast Mariners,Melbourne Victory,Newcastle Jets,Perth Glory, andSydney FC. Seven of the eight teams were affiliated withA-League clubs, and shared their names and colours to promote their brands. The eighth club wasCanberra United.[11]
The W-League'sinaugural season commenced on 25 October 2008, with Perth hosting Sydney atMembers Equity Stadium.[12] After ten rounds, the regular season finished withQueensland Roar as the top-placed team, becoming the first W-League premiers, and advancing to the semi-finals along with the second-, third- and fourth-placed teams. Queensland faced Canberra in the2009 W-League grand final, defeating them 2–0 to take the champions trophy.
Central Coast Mariners were forced to withdraw from the 2010–11 season due to a lack of funding,[13] but returned in 2023–24.[14]
WhenWestern Sydney Wanderers joined the A-League for the 2012–13 season, they also entereda team into the W-League, returning the competition to eight teams. From 2012 to 2014, the W-League champion team qualified into an international competition, theInternational Women's Club Championship.
On 13 May 2015,Melbourne City were confirmed to compete in the W-League from the 2015–16 season.[15] The club had a remarkable inaugural season, winning all 12 of its regular season games and winning the Grand Final.[16]
From the inception of the competition the league was run byFootball Federation Australia, the governing body for the sport in Australia. In July 2019, the FFA relinquished operational control of the league to each of the clubs, now represented by theAustralian Professional Leagues.[17]
The league commenced a further expansion program starting in 2021, withWellington Phoenix commencing in the 2021–22 season,[18]Western United for the 2022–23 season,[19] andCentral Coast Mariners for the 2023–24 season.[14] Future expansion is planned for the 2025–26 season, after the award of a licence for an Auckland-based team for both A-League Men and Women.[20]
Crowds have improved remarkably in 2023, on the back of theMatildas performance in the2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The record A-League Women's crowd (including finals) was set on 14 October 2023, with the match betweenSydney FC and theWestern Sydney Wanderers drawing a crowd of 11,471.[21]
Around 15 April 2024, the2023–24 A-League Women season become the most attended season of any women's sport in Australian history by recording a total attendance of 284,551;[22][23][24][25] the season finished with a final total attendance of 312,199.[26]
The number of clubs reduced from 12 in the2024–25 season to 11, following the removal of Western United byFootball Australia for financial reasons.[27]
The A-League Women regular season typically runs from November to April and consists of 23 games per team (22 home and away, plus one additional "Unite Round" fixture),[28] with the highest ranked team winning the title of "Premier".[29] The top six teams in the regular season then advance to the knockout finals series (single elimination finals, two-legged semi-finals), with the Champion determined by the victor of the Grand Final.[30]
On 12 December 2022, theAustralian Professional Leagues (APL) announced that the grand finals for the2022–23 and two subsequent seasons would be hosted in Sydney,[31] a move which received considerable backlash.[32][33] On 18 October 2023, the APL announced that the Grand Final hosting rights would revert back to the original format, and instead a new "Unite Round" was introduced, with a regular season round having all its games played in Sydney.[34]
Pride Cup is an Australian organisation dedicated to advocating for theLGBTQIA+ community in sport. It was founded in 2012 after formerAustralian rules footballerJason Ball came out publicly as gay, and his club inYarra Glen, Victoria showed their support by staging a "Pride Cup". This led to the establishment of the annual AFL Pride Game in 2016, and the idea soon spread to other codes.[35] AfterAdelaide United player Josh Cavallo became the first openly gay top-flight male footballer in October 2021, the A-League partnered with A-League Women to stage a single Pride men's and women's doubleheader during the 2021-22 season.[36]
On 24–26 February 2023, both theA-League Men and Women's competitions staged their first-ever Pride Round, the first occasion in which the leagues had "come together to recognise and promote inclusion for theLGBTQIA+ community". Part proceeds from ticket sales across all of the round's fixtures were donated to Pride Cup.[36] In 2024, theAustralian Professional Leagues (APL) announced the continuation of the round, as well as providing inclusion training to all players and keystakeholders. The A-Leagues would be collaborating with the PFA and Pride Cup, who would help to deliver the training. The annual Pride Cup double-header between Adelaide United andMelbourne Victory would take place in March, and several men's and women's teams would celebrate by engaging community groups and using indicators such as rainbow corner flags, armbands, special Pride kit and/or rainbow socks.[37]
During the2023–24 and2024–25 theAustralian Professional Leagues has held a "Unite Round". During this round, all matches are held in a single city. The round was in partnership withDestination NSW, and was introduced after theGrand Final decision was reversed in October 2023.[38] Unite Round was discontinued ahead of the2025–26 season.[39]
| Season | Dates | City | Venues (matches) | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men | Women | Total | ||||
| 2023–24 | 12–14 January 2024 | Sydney | Allianz Stadium(4),CommBank Stadium(4),Leichhardt Oval(4) | 36,203 | 11,222 | 47,425 |
| 2024–25 | 22–24 November 2024 | Allianz Stadium(6),Netstrata Jubilee Stadium(6) | 61,911 | 9,394 | 71,305 | |
| Future clubs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | City | State | Stadium | Capacity | Founded | Planned entry | ||
| Auckland FC | Auckland | Auckland | TBC | TBC | 2023 | 2027[41] | ||
| Macarthur FC | Campbelltown | New South Wales | TBC | TBC | 2017 | 2027[41] | ||
| Former clubs | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | City | State | Stadium | Capacity | Founded | Joined | Exited | |
| Western United | Wyndham | Victoria | Ironbark Fields | 5,000 | 2021 | 2022 | 2025 | |
Performance and ranking of clubs based on their best regular season result in the W-League and A-League Women.
| Rank | Club | Best result | 08–09 | 09 | 10–11 | 11–12 | 12–13 | 13–14 | 14 | 15–16 | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sydney FC | 1st (5 times) | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | Melbourne City | 1st (4 times) | — | 1 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 | Brisbane Roar | 1st (3 times) | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 7 |
| 4 | Canberra United | 1st (3 times) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 11 | 5 |
| 5 | Melbourne Victory | 1st | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Perth Glory | 1st | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| 7 | Newcastle Jets | 2nd | 2 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 11 |
| 8 | Central Coast Mariners | 2nd | 6 | 2 | — | 5 | 4 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Western United | 2nd | — | 2 | 3 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 10 | Adelaide United | 3rd | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 3 |
| 11 | Western Sydney Wanderers | 3rd | — | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 12 | |||
| 12 | Wellington Phoenix | 8th | — | 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 | ||||||||||||
|
An A-League Women squad is required to have a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 26 players.[citation needed] Players typically receive a one-season contract,[citation needed] with many playing in leagues in other countries during the A-League Women off-season. Due to the A-League Women season running during the off-season of several leagues around the world, manyforeign players have played for teams in A-League Women and vice versa.
In 2015, teams in what was then the W-League had asalary cap of A$150,000.[42] Individual player salaries varied, with one player reporting toThe Sydney Morning Herald in 2012 that whilst some players earnedA$10,000, others earned nothing.[43] In 2014, it was reported thatSydney FC players were paid salaries ranging from $1,000 to $6,000.[44] Players could also earn money playing overseas and may therefore be considered byProfessional Footballers Australia (PFA) as professional.[45]
Some clubs are owned by their state soccer associations, includingAdelaide United andNewcastle Jets.[citation needed]
For the 2017–18 season a minimum salary was introduced at A$10,000. The average salary therefore rose from A$15,500 to A$17,400. A salary cap was set at A$300,000.[46]
The total salary floor, or minimum salary spend, for the2020-21 season rose toA$294,000, growing to A$315,000 in the2021-22 season, with a salary cap of A$450,000, as part of a five-year deal that woulf see the salary floor rise to A$390,000 by 2025-26.[47] The deal also included improved standards in training venues, travel and accommodation, high performance staffing, and player workloads.[47] The A-League Women minimum annual wage in 2021 was A$17,055.[48] This increased to A$25,000 in 2023 owing to the extended season, which was a full home-and-away schedule for the first time. As of March 2024[update], players are contracted for 35 weeks for a 22-round regular season, with four extra weeks for those playing in the finals.[49]
A 2023 survey showed that most players in the league work and/or study part-time, having to supplement their part-time income. According to the PFA, most players "earned at or close to the minimum" in the previous season, with around 60 per cent of players having had to work second jobs; by way of comparison, only 15 per cent of A-League Men were working second jobs, with the vast majority of those working fewer than 10 hours per week. After the success of the2023 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, there were renewed calls to make the competition a full-time one.[49]
The competition was known as theWestfield W-League from its inception in 2008 until 2021, under an agreement withWestfield as the naming rights sponsor.[50] The main logo design was shared with theA-League men's competition. In 2017, Football Australia undertook a major rebranding and redesigned its logos for the W-League and A-League to be in line with its own logo, and those of its member federations.[51]
After governance of the league was handed to theAustralian Professional Leagues in 2020, there was another rebranding in September 2021, which saw the competition being renamed toA-League Women.[52] Liberty Financial became the league's new naming rights sponsor shortly afterwards in December 2021 and the competition was then known as theLiberty A-League Women.[53] Since September 2024, the league is known asNinja A-League Women with home appliances companySharkNinja as the current naming rights sponsor.[2]
A-League Women games have been played in 91 venues since the inaugural season of the A-League.[54]
The2018–19 season marked the first time that fans were able to watch every W-League game. All matches were broadcast or streamed on Fox Sports, SBS Viceland and the My Football Live app. Thursday Night Football was also introduced, meaning 13 stand-alone regular season matches will be played in prime-time and broadcast live on Fox Sports.[55] The Football Federation Australia (FFA) reached a deal withESPN+ for broadcast rights to W-League games in the United States. ESPN+ will carry at least 17 W-League matches in the 2018–19 season.[56] For the first time ever W-League games would be broadcast onYouTube andTwitter in territories without a traditional broadcast partner.[57]
In the 2019–20 season,ABC TV broadcast one game per weekend. Fourteen rounds of that season were broadcast at 4pm on Sundays, as well as the whole W-League 2020 Finals Series.[58] Fox Sport's contract with the A-League, which was renegotiated in June 2020 amidst theCOVID-19 pandemic, concluded in July 2021.[59]
From July 2019 to the end of the2020–21 season, Foxtel broadcast all matches withABC broadcasting one match per round live on its primary channel.[60]
Since August 2021, as part of a five-year deal withViacomCBS, the A-Leagues have been broadcast byNetwork 10 andParamount+ (Australia) streaming service.[61][62] As of the 2022–23 season, Paramount and Network 10's free-to-access streaming service10Play stream all matches.[63]
In New Zealand, A-League Men and A-League Women matches are broadcast onSky Sport /beIN Sports.
| Territory | Network |
|---|---|
 Australia | Network 10 |
| Paramount+ | |
 New Zealand | Sky Open |
| Sky Sport | |
| Pacific Islands | Australia TV |
| Pasifika TV | |
| International | Sport24 (in-flight and ship only) |
| YouTube (unsold markets only) | |
 China | Leisu Sports |
 Hong Kong | HOY TV |
 Ireland | TNT Sports |
 United Kingdom | |
 Macau | Macau Cable |
 United States | ESPN |
A-League Women features female referees and assistant referees from Australia. Notable referees include:
As of 31 October 2025.[65]: 204
Players listed in bold are still actively playing in the A-League Women.
| Rank | Player | Appearances |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Heyman | 202 |
| 2 | Tameka Yallop | 178 |
| 3 | Cassidy Davis | 176 |
| 4 | Casey Dumont | 165 |
| 5 | Princess Ibini | 160 |
| 6 | Kim Carroll | 159 |
| 7 | Teresa Polias | 157 |
| 8 | Clare Polkinghorne | 152 |
| 9 | Caitlin Cooper | 151 |
| Gema Simon |
As of 31 October 2025.[65]: 206
Players listed in bold are still actively playing in the A-League Women.
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michelle Heyman | 119 |
| 2 | Tameka Yallop | 75 |
| 3 | Samantha Kerr | 70 |
| 4 | Emily Gielnik | 67 |
| 5 | Kyah Simon | 53 |
| 6 | Leena Khamis | 46 |
| 7 | Tara Andrews | 45 |
| 8 | Ashleigh Sykes | 44 |
| 9 | Lisa De Vanna | 42 |
| Kate Gill |
While this is not a full-time professional workload wage, the women can also earn money playing overseas and are therefore considered by the PFA to be categorised as professional.
| Seasons | |
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| Grand finals | |
| Clubs | |
| Inactive clubs | |
| Competitions | |
| Statistics and awards | |
| National teams |
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| League competitions |
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| Cup competitions | |||||
| Others | |||||
| Lists | |||||
