'Alarming' absence of homegrown starters raises questions over WSL pathway
On the opening night of the 2025-26 Women's Super League season, London City Lionesses beat Manchester United and fielded a starting XI with no English players at Bromley, and two days later Tottenham started with only Scotland striker Kirsty Hanson as their sole British starter in a win over West Ham.
The trend has emerged as the WSL attracts top international talent following its full professionalisation in 2018 and a surge in the Lionesses' popularity during the 2020s, with clubs expanding scouting and spending more on transfers; the Women's Champions League returns this week, with Arsenal v HB Koge scheduled for Tuesday, 22 September, 20:00 BST and BBC coverage available via Radio 5 Live and online text updates.
Data on players who started 11 or more WSL matches — defined as half a season — show a steady decline in the proportion who are homegrown (English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish) over the past three seasons to under a third, although the first three weeks of 2026-27 showed a small increase partly attributable to the league expanding from 12 teams to 14 and the promoted trio of Birmingham City, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic carrying a higher share of homegrown players.
That downward trend contrasts with other major European leagues in 2025-26, where 61% of players who started half or more of Premiere Ligue matches in France were French, 63% in the Frauen Bundesliga were German, and 69% in Liga F were Spanish, a parity managers say is being tested by the WSL's growing ability to recruit globally, including recent signings from Germany, Sweden, Japan and Australia and the summer move of Alexia Putellas from Barcelona to London City.
Birmingham City manager Amy Merricks warned of blocked pathways for developing players, saying: "Our league has grown significantly and attracted world class athletes from all over the world," and added, "Unfortunately that blocks some of the pathways for the youngsters coming through. "We need [this] talent in our league because our league is growing, but at the same time we have got to try and address this issue." Manchester City boss Andree Jeglertz set out the selection dilemma clinicians face: "The club has a responsibility to raise young players, give our own talents possibilities to be in the squad and compete every week," he said. "But when it comes to team selection, I always need to pick the team that gives us the best chance of winning the game. If that contains eight young and promising English players or zero, I don't care. I just want to win the game."
Those club-level choices intersect with concerns about England's squad regeneration: England are described as two-time European champions, yet seven of the side that started against Spain in June also played in the Euro 2022 final and two of the remaining starters in this year's game were on the bench four years ago; Sarina Wiegman's team were outclassed in Majorca, losing 4-0 and missing out on automatic qualification for the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil, and must now navigate two rounds of play-off matches starting against Greece next month. Wiegman has handed debuts to 21 players since her arrival in September 2021, but the only players to become established starters are Lauren James, Hannah Hampton and Lucia Kendall, and when England kick off in Crete on Friday, 5 October (20:00 BST) it is likely to feature the same faces.
Youth pathways have also faltered: the biennial Women's Under-20s World Cup in Poland saw Lydia Bedford's side dismissed 3-0 from the last 16 by Nigeria, with the caveat that a number of players such as US-based Erica Meg Parkinson and Laila Harbert were not released by their clubs. The article notes that in 2022 and 2024 the home nations did not even qualify, whereas the 2018 Under-20s World Cup squad including Alessia Russo, Lauren Hemp and Georgia Stanway finished third.
The Football Association currently requires WSL sides to include eight homegrown players in their squad lists, with a higher, sliding-scale quota for WSL 2 sides; former England striker Ellen White argued this is inadequate, saying: "We should be updating that quota of eight players, tweaking it to best help and complement our international structure, our homegrown talent." The Guardian's Garry told BBC Women's Football Weekly: "I would love to see them go much further - something mandated, a minimum on the pitch at any one time," adding, "London City's line-up was alarming. "It's great for the product over here, but will we see pain in 15 years' time if England are struggling to go deep in major tournaments because we're not developing players?"
Last month the FA approved a plan to allow some WSL academy sides to play in the National League from 2027-28, saying it would "strengthen the women's football pyramid, raise standards across the league, and improve the development pathway for young players"; Chelsea have confirmed they plan to enter an academy side in the third tier and Manchester City women's managing director Charlotte O'Neill has previously said she would want to enter a team too.
The FA-approved change is due to begin in 2027-28 and Chelsea has already confirmed it will enter an academy side in the third tier, while Manchester City has indicated interest in doing likewise, representing a concrete step the governing body intends to use to increase competitive minutes for young English players.
