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Women's football in Scotland

Women's football in Scotland
Scotland national team in Sweden, 2014
CountryScotland
Governing bodyScottish Women's Football
National team(s)Women's national team
National competitions
International competitions
Champions League (clubs)
European Championship (national team)
FIFA Women's World Cup (national team)

Women's association football in Scotland has an organised history including the first international women's match in 1881,[1][2] the president of the British Ladies' Football Club in 1895, Lady Florence Dixie,[2][3] the Edinburgh–Preston "World Championship" in 1937[4] and 1939,[5][6] and the Scottish Women's Cup founded in 1970. The sport is jointly overseen by Scottish Women's Football (originally SWFA),[7] the Scottish Football Association, and Scottish Professional Football League.

Faced with bans and restrictions from the 1920s to the 1970s by organisers of male football competitions,[8][9][10] Scottish women's football has had some international success and recently gained some professional clubs. As of 2022, the women's leagues consist of the Scottish Women's Premier League with two divisions, the SWF Championship and League One,[11] the Scottish Women's Football League (formed in 1999) and the Highlands and Islands League.

The Scottish Women's Cup was first played in 1970–71, won by Stewarton Thistle. The Cup is open to all senior teams affiliated to SWF. Clubs of specific leagues enter the SWPL Cup, SWF Championship Cup, SWFL League Cup and Plate, the Highlands and Islands League Cup, the 'Performance' youth league cups, and various youth cups at lower levels.

The Scotland women's national team played its first official game in 1972, competed in the 1979 European championship and played its first game at Hampden Park in 2012.[12] The team qualified for its first Women's World Cup in the 2019 tournament. Scotland's most famous female players include Rose Reilly, Julie Fleeting, Kim Little, and the most-capped player of the national team, Gemma Fay.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference WOS2012 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference honeyballers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Brennan, Patrick. "The British Ladies' Football Club". Donmouth.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lanc1937 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Harkness19390618 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Record1939 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "How women's football battled for survival". BBC News. 3 June 2005. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  8. ^ "Scotland women's football team on brink of big time". The Scotsman. 30 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022.
  9. ^ MacBeth, Jessica (Spring 2008). "Attitudes towards women's football in Scottish society" (PDF) (63). Scottish Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 December 2013. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ Macbeth, Jessica Louise. "STORRE: Women's football in Scotland : an interpretive analysis". Dspace.stir.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  11. ^ "SWF unveil new-look women's league structure". SWF. 3 June 2022. Archived from the original on 3 June 2022.
  12. ^ Mann, Charlie (20 October 2012). "Scotland Women 1–1 Spain Women". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2013.

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