Charlton Women will play Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol City, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Leicester City and West Ham in the newly revamped Subway Players Cup League Phase.
This competition replaces the Subway League Cup, with the group stage adopting a Swiss-style league format (like the Champions League), with fixtures drawn by region, and all teams in the same league table.
Overall, there are 23 participating teams in the league phase from WSL and WSL2, with the teams involved in European competition not participating. Each team plays a minimum of six matches against teams in their region, three at home and three away.
Being in the southern section, we have been drawn to play the following fixtures:
- Wed, Sept 23rd Brighton & Hove Albion vs Charlton Athletic
- Wed, Sept 30th Crystal Palace vs Charlton Athletic
- Wed, Oct 21st Charlton Athletic vs Bristol City
- Wed, Oct 28th Charlton Athletic vs West Ham United
- Wed, Nov 11th Charlton Athletic vs Ipswich Town
- Wed, Dec 16th Leicester City vs Charlton Athletic
It is not just the format of the groups that has changed; so has how points are won. If you win a match, three points are awarded as usual, with the loser not earning any.
But for any game that is level after 90 minutes, a penalty shoot-out has been introduced, with the winner receiving two points and the loser one point.
The top eight teams in the league table after everyone has played six games will progress to the Knockout Phase, taking place from January through to March.
The quarter-finals will be on January 13th and 14th, 2027.
The semi-finals will be on February 10th and 11th, 2027.
The final will be played at a to-be-confirmed neutral venue on the weekend of March 13th/14th, 2027.
