Women’s Super League clubs have agreed a major funding increase for match officials, but the English top tier is set to wait until 2029 before it has full-time referees.
The extra investment was decided at the latest WSL Football board meeting and will focus on enhancing officials’ education, analysis and physical performance. Although none of the parties involved are ruling out progressing to full-time WSL referees earlier, the 2029-30 campaign is the season that has been agreed for when officials will be employed by Pro Ref, the body responsible for match officials across English professional football and formerly known as PGMOL.
WSL and WSL 2 clubs, the primary shareholders of WSL Football, were told at this month’s all-club meeting of the three-year funding plan to transition to full-time match officials for 2029-30. Insiders have indicated there was initially a mixed response, with some clubs hoping the move would happen sooner, before the plan was voted on and approved.
Reaction within the elite game has been divided over the timeline. One WSL club’s senior executive, who did not want to be named, described it as “about time” that a specific timeframe existed, but added disappointment that it was still three seasons away. Another senior WSL club source welcomed the commitment to funding the education and training needed to improve the quality of officiating. At the board meeting, the league and clubs are believed to have discussed balancing the desire to have full-time officials as quickly as possible against the need to enhance standards and provisions.
Many of the officials working in the WSL hold other full-time or part-time jobs, and the new deal followed extensive discussions between WSL Football, the Football Association and Pro Ref. Calls for fully professional WSL match officials have grown since the English women’s top tier moved to full-time players in 2018-19, and further since the top two divisions were taken over by the independent WSL Football in 2024. The WSL has repeatedly stated its “intention” to move to full-time officials, but this is believed to be the first time a timeline has been agreed.
The backdrop to the decision stretches back several years. In 2021 the FA said it had no immediate plans to introduce full-time referees to the top two divisions of English women’s football, while referees in the English men’s game have been full-time professionals since 2001 across the Premier League and the EFL. The WSL also now holds a seat on the Pro Ref board for the first time this season, following Pro Ref’s launch in the summer, giving it a greater say in decision-making alongside Premier League and EFL representatives.