A-League Women (currently known as the Ninja A-League for sponsorship reasons), known as the W-League until September 2021, is the top-division soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federation Australia) and was originally composed of eight teams of which seven had an affiliation with an existing A-League Men's club. As of the 2025–26 season, the league is contested by 11 teams. The league, as well as the A-League Men and A-League Youth are administered by the Australian Professional Leagues.Official site on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
Seasons run from November to April and include a 23-round regular season and an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament involving the six highest-placed teams, culminating in a Grand Final match. The winner of the regular season tournament is dubbed "premier" and the winner of the grand final is dubbed "champion". The premiers qualify for the AFC Women's Champions League, starting from the 2024–25 season.
Since the league's inaugural season, a total of five clubs have been crowned premiers and five clubs have been crowned champions. 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 single Australian Professional Leagues operation and management in 2021, which served as the precursors for complete transition to professionalism of the A-League Women.
Melbourne City are both the current premiers and champions, having won their fifth titles in each.
History
Between 1996 and 2004 the Women's National Soccer League (WNSL) was Australia's top women's soccer league. In 2004 it was discontinued alongside the men's National Soccer League.
After Australia qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, head coach Tom Sermanni felt the establishment of a professional league was vital for continuing the development of players. Football Federation Australia established the league the following year. The W-League was initially composed of eight teams: Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory, and Sydney FC. Seven of the eight teams were affiliated with A-League clubs, and shared their names and colours to promote their brands. The eighth club was Canberra United.
The W-League's inaugural season commenced on 25 October 2008, with Perth hosting Sydney at Members Equity Stadium. After ten rounds, the regular season finished with Queensland 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 the 2009 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, but returned in 2023–24.
When Western Sydney Wanderers joined the A-League for the 2012–13 season, they also entered a 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, the International Women's Club Championship.
On 13 May 2015, Melbourne City were confirmed to compete in the W-League from the 2015–16 season. The club had a remarkable inaugural season, winning all 12 of its regular season games and winning the Grand Final.
From the inception of the competition the league was run by Football 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 the Australian Professional Leagues.
The league commenced a further expansion program starting in 2021, with Wellington Phoenix commencing in the 2021–22 season, Western United for the 2022–23 season, and Central Coast Mariners for the 2023–24 season. Future expansion was planned for the 2025–26 season following the awarding of a licence to Auckland FC for teams in both the A-League Men and A-League Women competitions. However, the club's women's team expansion was later delayed by the APL until the 2027–28 season.
Crowds have improved remarkably in 2023, on the back of the Matildas performance in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. The record A-League Women's crowd (including finals) was set on 14 October 2023, with the match between Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers drawing a crowd of 11,471.
Around 15 April 2024, the 2023–24 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; the season finished with a final total attendance of 312,199.
The number of clubs reduced from 12 in the 2024–25 season to 11, following the removal of Western United by Football Australia for financial reasons.
Competition format 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), with the highest ranked team winning the title of "Premier". 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.
On 12 December 2022, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced that the grand finals for the 2022–23 and two subsequent seasons would be hosted in Sydney, a move which received considerable backlash. 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.
Special events Pride Round Pride Cup is an Australian organisation dedicated to advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community in sport. It was founded in 2012 after former Australian rules footballer Jason Ball came out publicly as gay, and his club in Yarra 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. After Adelaide 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.
On 24–26 February 2023, both the A-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 the LGBTQIA+ community". Part proceeds from ticket sales across all of the round's fixtures were donated to Pride Cup. In 2024, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced the continuation of the round, as well as providing inclusion training to all players and key stakeholders. 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 and Melbourne 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.
Unite Round During the 2023–24 and 2024–25 the Australian Professional Leagues has held a "Unite Round". During this round, all matches are held in a single city. The round was in partnership with Destination NSW, and was introduced after the Grand Final decision was reversed in October 2023. Unite Round was discontinued ahead of the 2025–26 season.
Clubs
Current clubs Team Location Stadium Capacity Founded Joined Head coach CaptainHighestfinishMost recentfinish Adelaide United Adelaide,South Australia ServiceFM StadiumCoopers Stadium 7,00017,000 2008 2008 Brisbane Roar Brisbane,Queensland Imperial Corp Stadium 5,000 2008 2008 Vacant Canberra United Canberra, ACT McKellar Park 3,500 2008 2008 Central Coast Mariners Gosford, New South Wales Central Coast Stadium 20,059 2008 20082023 (re-entry) 2nd 2nd Melbourne City Melbourne, Victoria ctrl:cyber PitchAAMI Park 1,50030,050 2015 2015 1st Melbourne Victory Melbourne, Victoria The Home of the MatildasAAMI Park 3,00030,050 2008 2008 Newcastle Jets Newcastle,New South Wales No.2 SportsgroundMaitland Sports GroundHunter City Motor Group StadiumMcDonald Jones Stadium 5,0005,0005,00033,000 2008 2008 Perth Glory Perth,Western Australia Sam Kerr Football CentreHBF Park 2,50020,500 2008 2008 Sydney FC Sydney,New South Wales WIN StadiumSydney Olympic Park Athletic CentreCromer Park 23,7505,0005,000 2008 2008 Wellington Phoenix Wellington,New Zealand Hnry StadiumJerry Collins Stadium 34,5001,9002021 2021 2nd 2nd Western Sydney Wanderers Sydney,New South Wales CommBank StadiumBlacktown Football ParkMarconi Stadium 30,0005009,000 2012 2012 Vacant Future clubsTeamCityStateStadiumCapacityFoundedPlanned entryAuckland FCAucklandAucklandTBCTBC20232027Macarthur FCCampbelltownNew South WalesTBCTBC20172027 Former clubs Team City State Stadium Capacity Founded Joined Exited Western United Wyndham Victoria Ironbark Fields 5,000 2021 2022 2025
Performance record Performance and ranking of clubs based on their best regular season result in the W-League and A-League Women.
RankClubBest result08–090910–1111–1212–1313–141415–1616–1717–1818–1919–2020–2121–2222–2323–2424–2525–261Melbourne City1st (5 times)—144517231112Sydney FC1st (5 times)41134243323311128103Brisbane Roar1st (3 times)1322146471252699744Canberra United1st (3 times)34315132158647511535Melbourne Victory1st5544332997123444266Perth Glory1st765625182647956101087Newcastle Jets2nd286578565379881061198Central Coast Mariners2nd62—5479Wellington Phoenix2nd—101189210Western United2nd—236—11Adelaide United3rd877786756968538123512Western Sydney Wanderers3rd—6787889369771211
+Key League premiers and qualifier for W-League/A-League Women finals Qualifier for W-League/A-League Women finals — Not part of that season's competition
Organisation
Squad formation and salaries
An A-League Women squad is required to have a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 26 players. Players typically receive a one-season contract, 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, many foreign players have played for teams in A-League Women and vice versa.
In 2015, teams in what was then the W-League had a salary cap of A$150,000. Individual player salaries varied, with one player reporting to The Sydney Morning Herald in 2012 that whilst some players earned , others earned nothing. In 2014, it was reported that Sydney FC players were paid salaries ranging from $1,000 to $6,000. Players could also earn money playing overseas and may therefore be considered by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) as professional.
Some clubs are owned by their state soccer associations, including Adelaide United and Newcastle Jets.
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.