Beth Mead and Niamh Charles are notable additions to the champions’ squad that looks just as strong as last season
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 1st (NB: this is not necessarily Tom Garry’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Champions again at last, after a 10-year wait, Manchester City now face an even tougher task: defending their title. They appear to have a good chance of succeeding, especially after keeping their star striker, Khadija “Bunny” Shaw. The WSL’s top scorer and best player of 2025-26 performed a dramatic U-turn by signing a new four-year contract in May rather than leaving on a free transfer, and that may prove crucial in continuing City’s positive momentum.
Their squad looks to be of a similar strength to last season. The Brazil forward Kerolin left for Barcelona but Beth Mead arriving from Arsenal in essence replaces her. Similarly, the exit of left-back Leila Ouahabi will be compensated for by the acquisition of Niamh Charles from Chelsea. Perhaps the only minor question is whether there is sufficient depth to sustain a challenge in the Women’s Champions League as well as domestically, but the core of regulars looks as formidable as any club in Europe.
The team scored plenty last term and had great success down the flanks, with the right-back Kerstin Casparij providing the joint-most assists in the division. Defensively they look solid. The most intriguing challenge could be psychological, as they switch from hunters to hunted, becoming the team that everybody wants to beat. They start at home to one of the promoted sides, Birmingham City, and first meet a fellow title hopeful – Arsenal – at the start of October, when they will aim to lay down a marker in the title race.
Owned by City Football Group and led off the pitch by the managing director, Charlotte O’Neill, and director of football, Therese Sjögren, City enter the season with a new women’s team building at the training centre. The £10m building offers everything from underwater treadmills to a barista-style coffee machine in the canteen, with every element tailored towards maximising performance for female athletes. Previously the women’s team sometimes had to share a gym with City’s boys’ academy.
Andrée Jeglertz’s first season could scarcely have gone better, as he oversaw a league and cup double. He arrived in Manchester after a relatively uninspiring spell in charge of Denmark women but his CV is full of extensive high-level experience, including a 2004 European title with the Swedish club Umeå. The 54-year-old is a calm presence on the touchline, unwavering in his belief that his team will “find a way to win”, and has avoided controversy in press conferences, which he handles assuredly.
Mead was the headline signing on a free transfer after nine years at Arsenal. City are hoping that the England forward – the Golden Boot winner and player of the tournament at the 2022 European Championship – is not past her best, at 31, and can flourish across a three-year contract. She is the all-time leading assist provider in the WSL. Mead also has 81 caps and will want to be part of any Lionesses squad at next summer’s World Cup.
If teams want to defend more effectively against the champions, they could start by focusing on free-kicks and corners. City scored at least twice as many set-piece goals as anyone else in 2025-26. As strong as they were elsewhere, this was their superpower.
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The 18-year-old full-back Sacha Lewis signed her first professional contract with City in August, having been with the club since under-14 level. The younger sister of the club’s men’s first-team full-back Rico Lewis, she has been a regular for England Under-19s and has been named in the England Under-20 squad that will go to Poland for September’s Women’s Under-20 World Cup. She was the player of the season for Manchester City’s “Next Gen” team last term and, with City juggling European and domestic football, may get a chance in the first team.
“Our biggest challenge this year is to continue winning and, at the same, compete in other competitions and also want to win those. Winning in one year is one thing, but being able to win in the next year, that is even tougher. Of course we can do that [compete on multiple fronts] and we have good enough players to be able to play with one starting XI on Saturday and do a couple of changes on Wednesday and still win. That was our biggest challenge last year – we had too many good players that were not playing enough games, so this year we will have the possibility to explore the whole squad. Each player will be more important than they’ve ever been for the club” – Jeglertz speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live.
The Joie Stadium is the women’s team’s usual home, across the road from the Etihad Stadium, where they will play two home league fixtures. Those will be against Arsenal on 4 October and against Manchester United on 14 February. The 7,000-capacity Joie Stadium, that hosted matches at Euro 2022, has been the women’s team’s home for more than a decade and they were unbeaten at home in the league last season. They haven’t lost a home WSL game at the Joie Stadiumsince a 4-3 thriller against Arsenal in February 2025.
On Friday 4 September at 1pm, Suzanne Wrack will be answering readers’ questions about the new WSL season for Guardian Conversations
