2020–21_FA_Women's_National_League
2020–21 FA Women's National League
Football league season
The 2020–21 FA Women's National League was the 29th season of the competition, and the third since a restructure and rebranding of the top four tiers of English football by The Football Association. Starting in 1992, it was previously known as the FA Women's Premier League.[1] It sits at the third and fourth levels of the women's football pyramid, below the FA Women's Championship and above the eight regional football leagues.[2]
The league featured six regional divisions: the Northern and Southern divisions at level three of the pyramid, and below those Division One North, Division One Midlands, Division One South East, and Division One South West. The league consisted of 71 teams, divided into six divisions of twelve teams apart from Division One South West which contains 11 teams. At the end of the season the winners of the Northern and Southern Premier divisions would have both qualified for a play-off match to decide the overall National League champion. Both teams were due be promoted to the FA Women's Championship.
On 4 January 2021, the National League was suspended due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown.[3] On 15 March, all tiers of the National League were curtailed for a second consecutive season.[4] Although there was no promotion and relegation between the tiers, including promotion from tier 3 into tier 2 and relegation from tier 6 into tier 7, an alternative method of upward club movement via application and based on set criteria was suggested in order to support the stability and integrity of the women's football pyramid. All clubs from tiers 3 to 6 were eligible to apply to move into the league immediately one tier above where they currently played with applications marked against a criterion weighted 75% on-field and 25% off-field.[5] As a result, Sunderland and Watford were awarded promotion to the FA Women's Championship ahead of the 2021–22 season.[6]