WSL Launches Official Fantasy League With Split Seasons and Second-Division Players
WSL’s official fantasy game launched in Aug 2026 to fix retention problems from the unofficial Aerial Fantasy. It combines 14 WSL teams and 12 WSL 2 clubs, splits the season into six “legs” (3–6 matchweeks) with mini-tables/prizes plus a full table, kicking off with Man Utd vs London City Lionesses.
The Women’s Super League (WSL) launched an official fantasy sports game in August 2026, designed to address the retention problems that have long plagued fantasy leagues. The game is available online and inside the WSL app, with the season beginning when Manchester United face London City Lionesses on the opening day of the WSL campaign.
The game is built around two key structural changes. First, it combines two divisions — the WSL’s 14 top-flight teams and the 12 clubs of WSL 2, England’s second division — allowing users to build squads from either league or a mix of both. Second, the season is divided into six shorter “legs,” each covering three to six matchweeks, with their own mini-tables and prizes. A full season-long table will also run alongside the leg format.
The division split addresses a problem identified in Aerial Fantasy, an unofficial predecessor: with only a handful of clubs genuinely competing for the WSL title, most top-performing fantasy squads converged on the same small group of players. Joey Davidson, the WSL’s head of digital products, said that by January the unofficial game “just lost momentum” because squads on the leaderboard had become too similar.
The leg structure targets the drop-off that occurs when players miss weeks or join a league mid-season. Under the new format, fans who arrive late or engage intermittently can still compete meaningfully within individual legs, rather than being effectively eliminated from contention.
The game was developed with SI and includes several design departures from established fantasy formats: player photos on the teamsheet, more frequent free transfers and wildcards, mid-matchweek substitutions, and “Fantasy Stories” — short vertical videos using an interface similar to Instagram’s — featuring player highlights and interview clips tailored over time to each user’s squad.
The WSL is targeting a potentially growing audience, with the league expanding to 14 teams, a Women’s World Cup scheduled for the following summer, and the return of Ted Lasso with a focus on the women’s game. Davidson said he has “absolutely no idea” how many users to expect, but expressed hope the player count could grow as the season progresses rather than decline — an outcome he acknowledged would be unusual for any fantasy league.