SWPL top flight expanding to 12 teams for next season
- Published
Rangers currently lead SWPL1 from defending champions Glasgow City
The Scottish Women's Premier League will have a 12-team top flight from next season.
There will be no relegation from SWPL1 this term, with two clubs coming up from SWPL2.
The second tier will change to eight teams, with the winners of the North Championship and South Championship joining, along with a play-off winner.
The move coincides with the SWPL coming under the governance of the Scottish Professional Football League.
The 12-team top flight will feature a split after two rounds of fixtures, with the top and bottom six playing each other twice more.
There will be promotion and relegation between the top two divisions and a pathway will continue for clubs to come up from Championship level.
Fiona McIntyre the Scottish FA's head of girls' and women's football, has joined the SPFL on a four-month secondment and is driving the reconstruction.
She told Women's Sport 360: "Sorting out the mechanics of the competition comes first.
"Behind the scenes there are a million other things to be done, in terms of the IT, player registration, we'll go through a bit of a rebrand as well, so the competitions will look and feel different.
"Then there are the normal conversations with commercial partners and broadcast partners.
"There's lots of bits and pieces going on at the same time, but it's really exciting."
Dundee United have already clinched this season's SWPL2 title.