While the men's team at Chelsea football club might be struggling to make a mark on the 2015 2016 Premier League, fans of the organization can at least take solace in knowing that their women's team just won a title. On Sunday, October 4th, the Chelsea Ladies Football Club won a match against Sunderland. The victory means that Chelsea LFC Win WSL title 2015. As the top tier of the Football Association Women's Super League, the FA WSL 1 is also the top-flight women's soccer division in England. The Blues had never won this particular title before, making the celebration that much sweeter.
FA WSL 1 History
To truly understand how historic this win is for the Chelsea LFC, we have to take a look back at the roots
of the FA WSL 1. The Women's Super League was first founded just five and a half years ago, in March 2010. The inaugural season, played in 2011, ended with Arsenal as the champions, as did the 2012 season. Meanwhile, 2013 and 2014 both saw Liverpool rising to the top of the table. In other words, the Blues are only the third football club to hold the FA WSL 1 title.
Even before the Women's Super League was a thing, though, the Blues had never found much success in the top-flight. From 1992 to 2010, the top league in English women's football was the FA Women's Premier League. Arsenal were dominant in that league, too, winning 12 of the 19 total seasons. Chelsea, meanwhile, never finished at the top of the table.
Close, but No Cigar
The Blues almost won their first title in the 2014 WSL. They won more games than any other team in the
league (eight, out of a total 14) and scored 23 goals, just one fewer than Arsenal. In fact, their record (of eight wins, two draws, and four losses) put them at the same point total as Liverpool (with seven wins, five draws, and two losses).
With both soccer clubs at 26 points after 14 games, the FA WSL 1 title came down to goal difference. And while Chelsea LFC had outscored Liverpool 23 to 19, they had also conceded six more goals (10 versus 16). That meant the Reds had a +9 in GD while the Blues only had a +7. Thus, Chelsea were narrowly denied an English championship once more. If Chelsea hadn't lost their final match (a 1-2 heartbreaker against Manchester City) and if Liverpool hadn't won theirs (a 3-0 victory, against Bristol Academy Women), then the Blues would have won based on raw goals scored.
Champions at Last
As it turns out, though, Chelsea LFC just had to wait one more year.
Going into the final match of the regular season, the Blues knew they needed a win. Manchester City were trailing Chelsea by two points, and even a narrow victory in the final match would give last year's runners-up the championship.
Man City kept the pressure on Chelsea by winning their October 4th season closer, a 2-1 home game against Notts County Ladies FC. But instead of choking and falling to second place, the Blues flourished under pressure, beating Sunderland AFC 4-0 to safely secure the Women's Super League title.
Chelsea's final record for the season was certainly one worthy of a championship title. The soccer club won 10 matches, splitting the other four equally between draws and losses. They also scored 30 goals and only conceded 10-the best numbers on the table in both categories. In fact, while Chelsea only finished two points ahead of Manchester City in the standings (32 to 30), they were considerably more dominant in goal difference (+20 versus +14). Bottom line, the Blues deserved this victory.
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Chelsea LFC Win WSL Title 2015: Their First League Ttitle
October 09, 2015