Reading Women withdrawal from Championship confirmed in latest ownership blow
Reading have confirmed the withdrawal of their women's team from the Championship next season, with the English women's second tier to operate with 11 teams rather than 12 next season.
The Berkshire club have applied for a place in the fifth tier of the football pyramid. The decision is the culmination of months of financial angst concerning Chinese businessman Dai Yongge's controversial ownership and a failed 11th-hour takeover bid earlier in the week to save the women's team.
According to regulations for the women pyramid, any club which withdraws from a league may only re-enter from at least two tiers lower where vacancy permits. In the case of Reading, the Southern Region Football League Premier Division - which include the likes of Ascot Town, Warminster Town and Oxford City - offered the next available berth.
For a club that was once a hallmark in the Women's Super League for eight seasons with a renowned academy system that can tout Mary Earps, Fran Kirby, Jess Fishlock and others amongst its impressive alumnae, the team's stark descent through the pyramid is the latest chapter in the club's demise.
Reading Women were relegated from the WSL at the end of the 2022/23 season and reduced to a part-time operation, losing a number of stalwarts and members of management in the process as the club bid to cut costs amid a protracted takeover saga.
In a statement posted to the club website, Reading said they "reluctantly" withdraw from the Championship due to an inability to meet "revised mandatory criteria ahead of the 2024-25 season" given the club's precarious financial state. Criteria included returning to a full-time model, as well as investment in facilities and personnel.
"Whilst these requirements are in-line with the exponential growth of the women’s game – it is widely accepted that a direct financial return on annual investment is not expected for at least five years," the statement read. "Unfortunately, given the current economic realities of the Club, the outlay required to reach these levels are just not possible without significant owner funding."
The statement added that the club, with support from the FA, "exhaustively explored every option", including external ownership of the women's team, but "complexities" thwarted these alternative avenues.
Worries have mounted over the future of Reading's women's team
Reading's withdrawal from the women's second tier will see the upcoming campaign operate one-team short, with the FA reportedly deeming the truncated window between the club's decision and the upcoming season unsuitable for fielding an additional team. The Championship will return to a 12-team operation in the 2025/26 season, thus only one team will be relegated from the Championship in the next season rather than two.
In a statement, the FA and the Women’s Professional Game confirmed: “[We] have been working closely with Reading FC Women all season to support the club and give them every opportunity to continue to compete in the Barclays Women’s Championship next season.
“However, following the club’s decision to withdraw from the Barclays Women’s Championship, the Women’s Football Board has subsequently accepted the club’s application to re-enter the Women’s Football Pyramid, and they will do so in the Southern Region Football League Premier Division [Tier 5] from the start of the 2024-25 season. This decision has been made by the Women’s Football Board in order to protect the integrity of the Women’s Football Pyramid and the welfare of the players and staff members at the club.”
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