Former Lioness Toni Duggan supports WSL expansion: “I just love what women’s football has done” | OneFootball

Former Lioness Toni Duggan has voiced her support for the Women’s Super League (WSL) expansion which was announced earlier this week.

As reported by SheKicks, the WSL will expand to 14 teams from the 2025/26 season, with the women’s first division getting a completely new look from next year.

Instead of the 12 teams that currently take part in the WSL, 14 sides will compete in the top tier of English football, with two clubs having a chance at relegation/promotion instead of the usual one.

Toni Duggan backs WSL expansion

Former England forward Toni Duggan is all for the upcoming changes and she spoke this week about the exciting new format coming to the WSL.

“I just love what women’s football has done. I was part of it when they scraped it back to eight teams.” Duggan said. “Don’t get me wrong, it was difficult to take because a league of eight teams, you were only playing a few games a season.

“We’ve had to gradually build to get to this stage and I think this is the right time for it, really.

“Over in Spain, if I’m comparing the two, I think Spanish football can learn from the WSL because if I’m being honest, there’s too many teams over in Spain and they need to condense it to bring the talent together.”

When Duggan played in the WSL at one point there was just eight teams included in a season. The league dropped down to eight clubs between 2010 and 2015 when Duggan played for Everton and Manchester City.

Since then though, women’s football has boomed in popularity and the league system looks completely different.

“Obviously clubs now have to adhere to certain things. They have to have a stadium big enough, they have to be able to have television companies there, they have to have good facilities.” Duggan continued.

“I just think that’s important for women’s football. It’s a given for the men’s teams, so that’s the direction the women’s game has gone in and now we’re in a position where we’re ready to make it a 14-team league, and I think it’s exciting.”

Toni Duggan at Soccer Aid

Just days before announcing her support for the WSL expansion, Toni Duggan made an appearance for England at Soccer Aid in what was a dream debut for the former Lioness.

The 33-year-old  was able to pick up a goal and assist in her first-ever Soccer Aid game, despite England losing late on following an improbable turnaround from the World XI team.

Other former lionesses who took part in the match included Jill Scott and Steph Houghton, with the latter going viral after being on the wrong end of a brutal Leonardo Bonucci challenge.

A total of £15,280,163 was raised for UNICEF at the event – a new record for the one-off game.