Newcastle United charged over alleged illegal approaches for six Sunderland players | OneFootball

The Football Association has charged Newcastle United Women for allegedly making six illegal approaches to Sunderland players.

Both Newcastle and Sunderland play their football in the Women’s Super League 2 and are due to face each other on November 16th.

The news comes after a difficult start for Newcastle who sit ninth in the WSL2 and recently sacked head coach Becky Langley.

Why did the FA charge Newcastle United?

The FA announcing the charge outlined that Newcastle United had breached FA Rule C88–C96 by allegedly illegally approaching six Sunderland players.

The governing body listed six separate allegations involving Newcastle United and Sunderland players.

In each instance, it is alleged that Newcastle ‘did not give to the Club Secretary of Sunderland AFC seven days written notice of its intention to approach the player’.

The FA confirmed the misconduct case in a statement dated September 10th, 2025, with the news only coming to light on Monday evening.

As per the FA’s website, Newcastle were given until 6pm on September 17th, 2025 to respond to the charges.

Neither club has publicly commented on the case which has been classified as a ‘non standard incident of misconduct’ by the FA.

SheKicks has approached Newcastle United for comment.

Which Sunderland players did Newcastle allegedly approach?

It is alleged that Newcastle approached Sunderland players Isla Burdon-Watson, Isla Hepburn, Josie Dobson, Lily Williamson, Molly Frew and Sofia Clark.

The six involved are all believed to be U16 players. Burdon-Watson now lists herself as a Newcastle United player while Clark was also congratulated for joining the Magpies by Killingsworth FC – the Newcastle-based side where she has previously played.

What has gone wrong for Newcastle in the WSL2?

Newcastle United have recently announced managerial changes following their disappointing start to the WSL2 season.

It was announced last week that Claire Ditchburn will take on the job on an interim basis. Ditchburn was previously head coach at Durham and held coaching roles at Everton and Manchester City.

It came after Newcastle parted ways with long-serving manager Becky Langley.

Langley was appointed in 2019, and led the team to back-to-back promotions from the fourth tier to WSL2.

However, the Magpies are currently ninth after winning just one of their six games so far this season.

Newcastle started with a victory over Nottingham Forest but have since failed to beat Sheffield United, Birmingham City, Charlton, Crystal Palace and Bristol City.

Meanwhile, Sunderland are fifth in the WSL2 with two wins and three draws from their opening six games.