The Adran Leagues (for sponsorship reasons called the Genero Adran Leagues) is the senior women's football league in Wales. Founded in 2009 as the Welsh Women's League, it rebranded in 2021 as the Adran Leagues. It consist of three divisions – the top tier is the Adran Premier, and the second tier is split geographically into Adran North and Adran South conferences.
The Adran Leagues runs an annual competition for all clubs, known as the Adran Trophy.
Adran Premier
editAs of 2024, the Adran Premier consists of eight teams. Each year one is relegated and one is promoted from the second tier. The winners of Adran North and Adran South conferences have a playoff to determine who is promoted, if that team qualifies for a tier one license.
During the first three years of the league's existence, the Premier league was also split into North and South conferences, with a final match determining the overall league champion.
Second tier
editAdran North and South each consist of eight teams.[1] A play-off between the winners of each conference determines the overall league champion, who is promoted to the Adran Premier. Similarly, the winners of the North Wales Women’s League and the South Wales Women's & Girls' League are promoted into Adran North and Adran South, respectively, replacing the lowest-ranked team or filling a vacancy in the table.
In 2021–22, Abergavenny Women won the Adran South conference and promotion to the Premier League. Neither of the top two teams in Adran North had applied for a Tier One license, so there was no play-off match.
In 2022–23, Wrexham Women won the play-off against Briton Ferry and were promoted.
In 2023–24, Briton Ferry Llansawel A.F.C. (ladies) won the play-off against Llandudno and were promoted.
Adran North
editIn 2021–22, Llandudno won the conference but had not applied for a Tier One license and so there was no play-off for promotion.[2]
In 2022–23, there were only seven teams in the conference. Wrexham Women won the conference and promotion. Abergavenny were relegated to Adran North after losing the Premier league, but had been unable to field a team for two games that season and folded rather than returning to the second tier.[3] Bangor won the North Wales Women’s League and was promoted to Adran North. NFA was also promoted into the conference to make a full complement of eight teams.[4]
For the 2024–25 season, the teams in the conference are:[5]
Adran South
editAt the start of the 2021–22 season, Abergavenny Women were relegated to Adran South after they lost their tier one license. They won the conference and promotion that season.
In 2022–23, Merthyr Town was relegated to the South Wales Women's & Girls' League and Pontardawe Town was promoted into Adran South. Briton Ferry won the conference.
For the 2024–25 season, the teams in the conference are:[5]
Adran Trophy
editThe annual league competition, first held in 2014, was initially called the Welsh Premier League Cup. In 2021 it was rebranded to the Adran Trophy.
The competition is run with 24 participating clubs, including all current members of the Premier, North, and South leagues, with the possibility of additional wildcard entries to fill out the total number of clubs to 24.
| Season | Winner | Refs |
|---|---|---|
| 2013–14 | Cardiff Met. Ladies F.C. | [6] |
| 2014–15 | PILCS | [7] |
| 2015–16 | Swansea City Ladies F.C. | [8] |
| 2016–17 | Cardiff Met. Ladies | [9] |
| 2017–18 | Cyncoed Ladies F.C. | [10] |
| 2018–19 | Cardiff Met. Ladies | [11] |
| 2019–20 | Final cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | [12] |
| 2020–21 | Swansea City Ladies | [13] |
| 2021–22 | Cardiff Met. Ladies | [14] |
| 2022–23 | Cardiff Met. Ladies | [15] |
| 2023–24 | Cardiff City | [16] |
| 2024–25 | ongoing |
References
edit- ^ Limegreentangerine (2023-12-09). "Adran North". www.adranleagues.cymru. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
- ^ Limegreentangerine (2022-03-16). "Genero Adran Tier 2 Play-Off Announcement". www.adranleagues.cymru. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ Feringa, Megan (2023-06-07). "FAW deny favouritism allegations as top-flight club folds following relegation". The Mirror. Retrieved 2023-12-19.
- ^ davenwsport (2023-06-08). "Rhyl-based NFA promoted to the national Genero Adran North League for 2023-24". Grassroots North Wales | Championing Local Sport | Dave Jones Sportswriter | nwsport.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
- ^ a b "2024/25 Genero Adran Leagues composition confirmed". FAW. 2024-06-07. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
- ^ "She Kicks - News Section: Cardiff Met Win Welsh Premier Cup". www.shekicks.net. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ Houldsworth, Andy; Harris, Jon. "PILCS Come From Behind to Claim League Cup". www.welshpremier.co.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ "She Kicks - News Section: Swans Exact Welsh Premier Cup Final Revenge". www.shekicks.net. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ "She Kicks - News Section: Cardiff Met Win Welsh Premier League Cup". shekicks.net. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
- ^ "She Kicks - News Section: Cyncoed lift the League Cup for first time". Retrieved 22 April 2018.
- ^ "Cardiff Met beat Swansea Ladies 3-1 to win Welsh Premier Women's Cup". BBC Sport. 5 April 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
- ^ The 2019–20 WPWL Cup Final (Cardiff Met.–Swansea City) was cancelled, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"FAW / 2019/20 FAW Cup Competitions Terminated". www.faw.cymru. Retrieved 27 September 2020. - ^ "#WPWLCup: Swansea City Ladies come from behind to lift trophy". She Kicks. 27 May 2021.
- ^ "Cardiff Met beat Cardiff City to win Genero Adran Trophy". BBC Sport. 27 March 2022.
- ^ "Archers beat Bluebirds to retain Adran Trophy" – via www.bbc.com.
- ^ "Genero Adran Trophy 23/24 Knockout". www.faw.cymru. April 14, 2024.