The summer of 2022 will live long in the memory for fans of women’s football. England’s home Euros proved to be a roaring success, with the Lionesses beating Germany to win their first ever major tournament.
Alongside the full crowd at Wembley Stadium, an estimated 50 million more people watched the final on TV – more than three times that of the fixture in 2017. The live attendance came close to matching the 91,000 all-time record for a women’s match, which was set in March for a match between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
That rise in popularity is expected to extend to the Women’s Super League (WSL), the top division of club football in England. Since turning fully professional in 2018, the league has gone from strength to strength, and now boasts a major TV rights package with Sky Sports and the BBC.
It means most matches throughout the season will be available to watch live in the UK, but there are several options if you’re based elsewhere too. Here’s everything you need to know.
Which Women’s Super League games are on TV this weekend?
The WSL was due to begin last weekend, but all matches were postponed as a mark of respect to Queen Elizabeth II. Those fixtures will be rearranged, meaning each team’s first game of the season will be different. With every game available to watch live in the UK, here are the key details you need:
Fri 16 Sept
- Arsenal vs Brighton – KO 7.30pm – The FA Player
Sat 17 Sept
- Man Utd vs Reading – KO 12pm – The FA Player
Sun 18 Sept
- Aston Villa vs Man City – KO 12.30 – BBC One/iPlayer/website
- Leicester vs Tottenham – KO 3pm – The FA Player
- West Ham vs Everton – KO 3pm – The FA Player
- Liverpool vs Chelsea – KO 5pm – Sky Sports Main Event/Football/Premier League/Ultra HDR/Showcase
How to watch the Women’s Super League on Sky Sports
This is the second season of Sky’s three-year deal with the WSL. For the 2022-23 season, the broadcaster has committed to showing at least 35 matches. To start watching, you’ll need a Sky Sports subscription, which also provides access to lots of other top-class sport.
Packages start at £44 per month for 18 months, or from £18 extra per month if you already have a Sky TV subscription. The latter only gets you access to Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football – for all eight channels, it’s £25 extra per month.
You can also get Sky Sports half price (£12.50 per month), when bundled with a Sky Glass 4K TV (from £13 per month) and Sky TV & Netflix (£26 per month). The TV is available in 43in, 55in and 65in sizes.
Whichever option you choose, you’ll also get access on your phone, tablet and/or laptop via Sky Go. See all four options on the Sky website.
However, if you sign up to Sky Q with a Sky Sports package, you can also watch in HDR quality. Learn more in our separate guide: How to get HDR on Sky Q
How to watch the Women’s Super League on Now
If you don’t want to commit to a Sky contract and satellite dish on your house, that’s not a problem. Sky has its Now streaming service as an alternative option, and there are no restrictions on the content you can access.
Now is available on a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, Chromecast and even games consoles.
A Day Pass provides 24 hours of access and costs £11.99 – this is great for one-off occasions. However, it’s going to make much more sense to get the Month Pass if you plan to watch every weekend. Between now and 28 August, it’s available for £25 per month for 12 months, before returning to the usual £33.99 per month after that – unless you cancel.
This offer also includes a month of free Now Boost, which adds 1080p video and Dolby 5.1 surround sound, removes ads and lets you stream on three devices at the same time (instead of the usual 2). After that, it’ll cost you an extra £5 per month.
Click here to view Now’s Sky Sports Pass packages.
How to watch the Women’s Super League on the BBC
Unlike many other broadcasters, you don’t need a subscription to watch the BBC. But you will need to pay for a TV licence, whether you’re watching live or via BBC iPlayer. It currently costs £159 per household or business – learn more in our separate guide to the UK TV licence.
Once that’s taken care of, there are lots of options available to you. The first is simply direct on your TV, with almost all Sky, Virgin, Freeview and Freesat boxes including BBC channels by default.
You can also use BBC iPlayer across all your devices, while the WSL is also available to watch via the BBC Sport website when games are taking place.
How to watch the Women’s Super League on the FA Player
The FA Player is a free service, allowing you to watch selected live games and on-demand content. To get started, just head to the FA website and create an account or log in.
Like many other services, there are also apps available for iOS and Android.
Can you watch the Women’s Super League outside the UK?
Yes, and there are two options available to you.
The first is simply to watch via your local broadcaster. This only applies if you’re in Australia ( Optus Sport), Brazil (ESPN) Canada ( Sportsnet), Central America, Mexico, Dominican Republic (all Sky Sports), Germany, Italy (both DAZN), New Zealand ( Spark Sport), Scandinavia (Nent) or the United States (CBS Sports, Paramount+)
If you’re based elsewhere or would rather use an existing UK account or subscription, there is an alternative. It involves using a VPN, which helps you ‘appear’ in another country by giving you a new IP address.
Our top pick is NordVPN, which offers a good blend of security features, ease of use and value for money. There are plenty of alternatives in our best VPN chart, but make sure they unblock BBC iPlayer – that’s a common issue for some services.
Interested in men’s football too? Here’s how to watch the
Premier League,
Champions League and
FA Cup.
