National League Southern Premier Division

The Southern Premier is the southern half of the National League's top tier, the direct mirror of the Northern Premier and, like it, the third level of women's football in England. It covers clubs across the south of England and Wales, and has been running since 1992 as the southern arm of what was then the FA Women's Premier League. Around twelve clubs compete home and away across the season, with the title carrying automatic promotion to WSL2 — a prize that used to be far harder to claim. For most of the league's history the Southern champions had to beat the Northern champions in a single winner-takes-all play-off just for the chance to go up. That barrier was removed for the 2023/24 season, when the FA decided both regional champions would be promoted automatically, doubling the number of clubs able to climb out of tier three each year. At the bottom end, the division relegates on geography rather than league position alone: the two clubs going down drop into either Division One South East or Division One South West, depending on where they sit.