The 2022–23 Scottish Women's Premier League was the 22nd season of the SWPL, the highest division of women's football in Scotland since 2002. The league was split into two divisions – SWPL 1 with 12 clubs and SWPL 2 with eight clubs. Both divisions were enlarged after the 2021–22 season (from ten and seven clubs respectively).[1]
Rangers were the defending champions, after winning their first women's Scottish title in 2021–22 by beating the 15-time champions Glasgow City.[2] Dundee United and Glasgow Women won promotion to SWPL 1.[3] Montrose, Gartcairn and East Fife won promotion to SWPL 2 as the top three clubs in the SWF Championship in 2021–22.
In February 2022, a majority of SWPL clubs voted to leave the Scottish Women's Football association (under the auspices of the Scottish Football Association); from 2022–23 onwards, the two divisions will be administered by the Scottish Professional Football League.[4] [1]
A 12-club "split" format returned in SWPL 1 in 2022–23, with a double round-robin before the "split",[5] then another double round-robin of the top six and bottom six clubs respectively.[1] The SWPL previously used a "split" format between the 2012 and 2015 seasons. In SWPL 2, the eight clubs simply played each other four times.[5] The top club in SWPL 2 won automatic promotion, the 12th-placed club in SWPL 1 was relegated, and promotion/relegation play-offs took place between the clubs finishing 11th in SWPL 1 and 2nd in SWPL 2, and between the clubs finishing 7th in SWPL 2 and 2nd in the SWF Championship.[5] The league season began on 7 August 2022 and ended on 21 May 2023.
Glasgow City won the SWPL 1 championship on the last day of the season, Lauren Davidson scoring in stoppage time for a 1–0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox Stadium to stay ahead of Celtic, despite the Hoops simultaneous home win over Hearts which put them in a title-winning position for part of the day (Rangers could also have retained the title with a win).[6] [7] City had been in first place and unbeaten at the split, but lost twice to Celtic and once to Rangers as the gap closed between the three clubs, leading to the dramatic conclusion.
At the other end of the table, Glasgow Women were out of their depth and relegated having lost every match; they were replaced by Montrose who won SWPL 2 and secured a second consecutive promotion. Gartcairn almost did likewise, but were defeated in the playoff by Hamilton Academical. At the bottom of SWPL 2, East Fife were relegated to be replaced by Livingston, but Stirling University survived by defeating Rossvale in the playoff.
| Team | Location | Manager | Home ground | Capacity | data-sort-type="number" | 2021–22 position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,602 | align=center | 5th | |||||
 Fran Alonso | 10,101 | align=center | 3rd | ||||
| Graeme Hart | Gussie Park[8] | TBC | 1st (SWPL2) | ||||
| Springburn | Petershill Park | 1,000 | 2nd | ||||
| Andy Gardner | New Tinto Park | 1,000 | align=center | 2nd (SWPL2) | |||
| Gary Doctor | 6,018 | align=center | 10th | ||||
| Eva Olid | 1,000 | align=center | 8th | ||||
| Dean Gibson | TBC | align=center | 4th | ||||
| Paul Brownlie Leanne Crichton | Alliance Park | 500 | align=center | 7th | |||
| Petershill Park | 1,000 | align=center | 9th | ||||
| Broadwood Stadium[9] | 8,086 | align=center | 1st | ||||
| Debbi McCulloch | 3,000 | align=center | 6th |
| Team | Location | Manager | Home ground | Capacity | data-sort-type="number" | 2021–22 position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suzy Shepherd | 1,320 (500 seated) | 3rd | |||||
| Liz Anderson | 1,980 | align=center | 2nd (Championship North) | ||||
| Robert McCallum | MTC Park[10] | 300 | 1st (Championship South) | ||||
| 15,003 | align=center | 4th | |||||
| Craig Feroz | 4,936 | 1st (Championship North) | |||||
| Mark Kirk | New Tinto Park | 1,000 | align=center | 6th | |||
| Murdo Steven | Riverside Stadium | 1,000 | align=center | 5th | |||
| Nile Robbins | 1,000 | align=center | 7th |
| Competition: | Scottish Women's Premier League 1 |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Winners: | Glasgow City |
| Relegated: | Glasgow Women |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Glasgow City Celtic |
| Matches: | 168 |
| Total Goals: | 621 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Rangers 14–0 Glasgow Women (7 August 2022) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Glasgow Women 0–10 Rangers (4 December 2022) |
| Highest Scoring: | Rangers 14–0 Glasgow Women (7 August 2022) |
| Highest Attendance: | 15,822 Celtic v Hearts (21 May 2023) |
| Prevseason: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason: | 2023–24 |
| Updated: | 4 May 2023 |
| Competition: | Scottish Women's Premier League 2 |
| Season: | 2022–23 |
| Winners: | Montrose |
| Promoted: | Montrose |
| Matches: | 96 |
| Total Goals: | 334 |
| Biggest Home Win: | Boroughmuir Thistle 7–0 Gartcairn (5 March 2023) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Stirling University 0–5 Montrose (23 April 2023) East Fife 1–6 Montrose (30 April 2023) |
| Highest Scoring: | Boroughmuir Thistle 3–5 Kilmarnock (7 August 2022) Montrose 7–1 St Johnstone (18 January 2023) |
| Prevseason: | 2021–22 |
| Nextseason: | 2023–24 |
| Updated: | 30 April 2023 |