Scottish teams Rangers and Celtic have held preliminary talks with the WPLL (Women’s Professional Leagues Limited) about joining the Women’s Super League (WSL).

The discussions, originally reported by The Times and corroborated by , have been a continuation of those previously held with the Football Association (FA) when it was still operating the WSL. The WPLL took over from English football’s governing body in running the top two divisions of the women’s game at the start of this season back in the summer.

Any final decision remains a long way off, with the Scottish league requiring at least a two-year notice period for teams who want to leave, and Scotland’s FA also likely to have to approve their exits.

Followers of men’s football may be experiencing a strange sensation of deja vu at this point.

The idea that Rangers and Celtic, both based in Glasgow, should become part of the Premier League has regularly been mooted down the years without ever seriously getting off the ground. However, the context of those two clubs within the women’s game is significantly different.

Celtic Rangers have made a lot of investment in their women’s teams over the past couple of years and have been rewarded for it. Both have won the Scottish title for the first time over the past three seasons, with Rangers triumphant in 2021-22 and Celtic finishing top last year. The latter went on to qualify for the Champions League group stage, though they came last in their group with zero points from the six fixtures.

The reality is that when it comes to historically dominant women’s teams in Scotland, you can look to Glasgow but not to either Celtic or Rangers. Glasgow City, an independent operation not linked to a men’s side, won 14 titles in a row between 2008 and 2021, and picked up their 16th league trophy in 2022-23. They are currently top of the league again, five points clear of Rangers in second. Celtic are fifth, though with two games in hand.

Unlike in men’s football, Celtic and Rangers are not significantly better than other top women’s teams in Scotland. Last season was the first time both had finished in the top two; as well as Glasgow City, teams such as Edinburgh’s Hibernian have consistently challenged for trophies.

Taking Celtic and Rangers out of the Scottish game would only serve to weaken what is developing into an exciting and varied league. It would also likely cost both teams the opportunity to qualify for European competition, as it is unfathomable that they are anywhere near being able to challenge England’s current top three of Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

There is no doubt that the WSL is sorely in need of expansion.

It has remained a 12-team league since 2019, with only one of those relegated each season. As a result, clubs have been able to drift along with little jeopardy, doing the bare minimum to stay in the top division. At the same time, there are plenty of upwardly-mobile teams in the second tier, and even the third, who have invested heavily but are stuck in a bottleneck as they try to go up to the next level.

The FA has worked hard over the years to encourage its larger men’s clubs to invest in the women’s game, not without criticism for prioritising those bigger brands over smaller or independent women’s teams. But the reality is that has been their focus, and many clubs have responded. Failing to reward the efforts that are being made would be a massive own-goal and a deterrent to other sides following suit.

More concerning, but more quietly reported, is the suggestion the WPLL is also considering making the WSL a closed league.

This has been proposed in the past on the grounds that it encourages investment because it removes the risk of relegation.

It is the go-to format in American sports, with the National Women’s Soccer League having grown using this format. The NWSL has regularly opened up a bid process for new franchises in order to expand, with teams such as Los Angeles-based Angel City generating record valuations for women’s sports as a result. But in the UK, it is largely an alien concept, removing a large sense of sporting integrity and excitement with a closed shop guaranteed for certain brands.

The idea of Celtic and Rangers becoming part of the WSL and that competition then being shut off to outsiders might seem contradictory but both notions have the same impetus — the valuing of the brand above all else. Bringing the biggest names in Scottish club football into the WSL would increase the league’s viewership while letting the two newcomers benefit from the existing brand success of the league and the teams within it.

In a world where women’s football gets treated as a complicated marketing exercise rather than an actual sport, this is not surprising. But it is hard to see any footballing rationale behind either of these concepts.

Up in Scotland, they are in the process of creating a competitive and exciting league which would look very different after the mooted departures of Celtic and Rangers. South of the border, the English league’s pyramid is becoming richer in quality by the season as more teams develop, whether as part of men’s clubs’ setups or separately.

Abandoning the existing league formats in favour of either of the ideas detailed above probably would benefit some balance sheets. But football is not played to boost commercial revenue, and the sporting merit of these potential changes is lacking.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Celtic, Rangers, Soccer, Sports Business, UK Women's Football

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