The 2023–24 Scottish Women's Premier League was the 23rd season of the SWPL, the highest division of women's football in Scotland since 2002. Sponsored by ScottishPower, the league was split into two divisions – SWPL 1 with 12 clubs and SWPL 2 with eight clubs. It was the second season of operation under the auspices of the Scottish Professional Football League.[1]
Glasgow City were the defending champions, after winning their 14th title in 16 seasons on a dramatic last matchday of 2022–23 to stay ahead of Celtic and Rangers, both of whom could have finished as champions depending on the results.[2] [3] The newcomers to SWPL 1 were Montrose, restoring a representation for the Angus region in the top tier after long-time members Forfar Farmington resigned from the league in 2021.[4] New participants in SWPL 2 were Glasgow Women (relegated from SWPL 1) and Livingston (winners of the 2022–23 SWF Championship).[5] Teams finishing second-bottom in both divisions survived play-offs, Hamilton Academical beating Gartcairn to stay in SWPL 1,[6] and Stirling University keeping their SWPL 2 place with a win over Rossvale.[7]
A 12-club "split" format was used in SWPL 1 in 2023–24, with a double round-robin before the "split",[8] then another double round-robin of the top six and bottom six clubs respectively. 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.[8] 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 2023–24 SWF Championship.[8] The league season began on 13 August 2023 and ended on 19 May 2024 for both divisions.
The championship was again settled on the final matchday, which Celtic and Rangers started on the same points after pulling ahead of Glasgow City; Celtic's superior goal difference meant they led the table and only had to match Rangers' result to win the title. However, while Rangers quickly took and kept a lead against Partick Thistle, Celtic struggled to break down the Hibernian defence. In the 90th minute, Amy Gallacher scored the only goal of the match at Celtic Park to give her side their first league championship in the women's game.[9] Celtic's men's team had also won the 2023–24 Scottish Premiership, and this was the first instance of a club holding both national championships at the same time.[10]
At the bottom of the SWPL 1 table, Hamilton were relegated with Queen's Park coming up to replace them; Dundee United survived by defeating Kilmarnock in the play-off. In the lower tier it was also the previous season's play-off survivors who went down this time, Stirling University swapping divisions with Rossvale, the team they overcame a year earlier. Ayr United won the SWPL 2 / Championship play-off with Glasgow Women to move up and condemn their opponents to a second successive relegation.
| Team | Location | Manager | Home ground | Capacity | data-sort-type="number" | 2022–23 position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,602 | align=center | 9th | |||||
 Fran Alonso(to January 2024)  Elena Sadiku(from January 2024)[11] | 10,101 | align=center | 2nd | ||||
| Graeme Hart (to March 2024) Suzy Shepherd (from March 2024)[12] | Foundation Park[13] | TBC | 10th | ||||
| Springburn | Petershill Park | 1,000 | 1st | ||||
| Robert Watson | 6,018 | align=center | 11th | ||||
| 1,000 | align=center | 4th | |||||
| 1,320 | align=center | 5th | |||||
| 4,936 | align=center | 1st (SWPL2) | |||||
| Alliance Park | 500 | align=center | 8th | ||||
| Petershill Park | 1,000 | align=center | 6th | ||||
| Broadwood Stadium[14] | 8,086 | align=center | 2nd | ||||
| Debbi McCulloch (to January 2024) Jack Beesley (from January 2024)[15] | 3,000 | align=center | 7th |
| Team | Location | Manager | Home ground | Capacity | data-sort-type="number" | 2022–23 position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andy Enwood | 1,000 | 5th | |||||
| Billy McCall | MTC Park[16] | 300 | align=center | 2nd | |||
| Andy Gardner | New Tinto Park | 1,000 | align=center | 12th (SWPL1) | |||
| 15,003 | align=center | 4th | |||||
| Mike Ross | 9,713 | align=center | 1st (SWF Championship) | ||||
| Craig Joyce | New Tinto Park | 1,000 | align=center | 6th | |||
| Kevin Candy | Riverside Stadium | 1,000 | align=center | 3rd | |||
| Nile Robbins | 1,000 | align=center | 7th |
| Competition: | SWPL 1 |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Winners: | Celtic (1st title) |
| Relegated: | Hamilton Academical |
| Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Celtic, Rangers |
| Matches: | 168 |
| Prevseason: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason: | 2024–25 |
| Updated: | 18 May 2024 |
| Player of the Month | scope=col | Club | scope=col | Ref | scope=col | Goal of the Month | scope=col | Club | scope=col | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August | Amy Gallacher | Celtic | [17] | [18] | ||||||
| September | Kirsty Howat | Rangers | [19] | Keira Chuter | [20] | |||||
| October | Kirsty Howat | Rangers | [21] | [22] | ||||||
| November | Rio Hardy | Rangers | [23] | [24] | ||||||
| December | Caitlin Hayes | Celtic | [25] | [26] | ||||||
| January | Rachel Rowe | Rangers | [27] | |||||||
| February | Emma Thomson | Hamilton Academical | [28] | [29] | ||||||
| March | Natasha Flint | Celtic | [30] | Rachel Donaldson | Partick Thistle | [31] | ||||
| April | Laura Berry | Motherwell | [32] | [33] | ||||||
| May | Amy Gallacher | Celtic | [34] | Hibernian | [35] | |||||
| Competition: | SWPL 2 |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Winners: | Queen's Park[36] |
| Promoted: | Queen's Park |
| Relegated: | Stirling University Glasgow Women |
| Matches: | 96 |
| Prevseason: | 2022–23 |
| Nextseason: | 2024–25 |
| Updated: | 19 May 2024 |