Charlton’s struggles expose ‘absolute ocean’ between WSL and second tier

Played eight, lost eight. Welcome to the Women’s Super League, Charlton Athletic, a club in danger of being chewed up, toyed with and spat straight back out by the top tier.

Bruised by their 6-0 defeat against Chelsea on Sunday, last season’s playoff winners are finding WSL life tough, conceding more than three goals per game on average and struggling to compete against clubs with chunkier wallets. But are they underperforming or are they merely the victims of their own success?

Promoted against the odds last season, defying some of the bigger-spending sides in the second tier such as Newcastle and Bristol City, Karen Hills’ team overachieved by eventually beating Leicester on penalties to secure a top-flight spot. And that was the last time they had anything to cheer about. Sunday’s trip to second-bottom Crystal Palace, another of the promoted sides, theoretically offers Charlton one of their better opportunities to match the 2026 UK Eurovision entry Look Mum No Computer and register one point.

Charlton have been unfortunate. The club-record signing, Linda Líf Boama, suffered a serious knee injury in September, while another of their most important additions, the France defender Hawa Cissoko, signed for her top-tier experience, is with an ankle injury. It would, therefore, be wrong to say there was no serious attempt to strengthen the squad before this season, but Charlton’s fellow promoted teams’ summer business was undeniably more ambitious, whether it be Birmingham’s capture of two Manchester United players or Palace signing the former Tottenham captain Bethany England and the WSL2 Golden Boot winner Lexi Lloyd-Smith.

Charlton lost significant cash in WSL2. The club’s financial accounts for the year ending 30 June 2025 – which were filed in October – stated that the women’s team made a loss of £1.32m, that they had net liabilities of £2.18m and that additional funding would be required. Precise details on wage bills, revenue and expenditure were not published after the company was deemed to be entitled to exemption from audit under section 479A of the Companies Act 2006.

Promotion to the WSL also comes with additional expenditure needed to meet enhanced minimum requirements and, not insignificantly, higher minimum salaries. In WSL2 last season, clubs had to pay players aged 23 and over a minimum salary of £26,900; aged 21 and 22 a minimum of £22,200; and those aged 18 to 20 at least £17,500. In the top tier, those minimum salaries rise to £42,500, £34,700 and £26,900 respectively.

Meanwhile, central income is modest; WSL Football’s financial accounts for 2024-25 stated that £9.41m was paid to their 24 member clubs, approximately £400,000 each. Unlike promotion to the men’s top tier, which can transform a club’s financial fortunes, the main benefit of reaching the WSL for a women’s team is the potential for greater exposure on Sky Sports and the BBC’s broadcast coverage. Charlton, it should be noted, also do not have the comfort blanket of a wealthy men’s team owner to invest in their women’s side.

There is a feeling within the women’s game that summer recruitment was somewhat rushed. Their first signing was not announced until 18 July. In contrast, Birmingham’s head coach, Amy Merricks, spoke repeatedly of trying to become “WSL ready” as early as the 2024-25 campaign.

Birmingham and Palace have both drawn at Arsenal this season and caused other sides problems, whereas Charlton – only the fifth team to lose their opening eight WSL games – have struggled to keep the ball, completing only six sequences of 10 or more passes, averaging only a 65% pass accuracy. All three teams, however, are finding the step up to the top tier a challenge and it is not surprising that the WSL’s bottom three are the promoted trio. Merricks, whose team travel to London City Lionesses on Sunday, said on Friday that “the way the table looks now is probably a way off how it will finish” but the gap between the divisions was “an absolute ocean”.

Asked how wide she feels the gulf is, Hills, who says her Charlton players have “prepared really well this week”, replied: “We’re trying to make the jump and trying to stay with this pack. The gap is continuing to get bigger and you see with some of the top teams the players that they’ve brought in and the finances and the resources that they have. It’s going to be a big challenge and we’re finding that out on a weekly basis.”