The Subway League Cup becomes the Players Cup
Subway has extended its multi-year partnership with WSL Football to rebrand the Subway League Cup to the Subway Players Cup. This new name comes complete with a new format, more games, and a better schedule after discussions surrounding player welfare.
23 Barclays Women’s Super League and Women’s Super League 2 teams will play for the title, excluding Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City, who are not allowed to take part due to their participation in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The New Format - What do you need to know?
The Players Cup will take the form of two stages, the League Phase, and the Knockout Phase.
The League phase replaces the previous group stage, and fixtures will be split and regionalised into North and South to minimise travel, with all clubs being placed on a single, unified league table. Each team plays six league phase matches, three home and three away, and the top eight teams on the table after all matches have been played will progress to the knockout phase.
Northern section: Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Burnley, Durham, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Sunderland.
Southern section: Brighton & Hove Albion, Bristol City, Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace, Ipswich Town, Leicester City, London City Lionesses, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Watford, West Ham United, Wolves.
After the top eight teams have progressed, there will be four quarter finals across the 13th and 14th of January that follow this format:
1st Place vs 8th Place (QF1)
2nd Place vs 7th Place (QF2)
3rd Place vs 6th Place (QF3)
4th Place vs 5th Place (QF4)
The winners of these quarter finals will then meet in the semi finals on the 10th or 11th of February with the winner of QF1 playing the winner of QF3, and the winner of QF2 playing the winner of QF4. The final will then take place on neutral ground during the weekend of the 13th-14th of March 2027.
The six game league phase will run from September to December. Fixtures for the Players Cup will be announced on the 6th of August.
Why did the Cup need to Change?
This new format has come about as a result of consultations with clubs and players, with changes being deemed necessary partly being due to the disparity of minutes played between clubs competing in the Champions League and those that are not.
This new format gives clubs and players not competing outside of domestic competitions the chance to win and progress further in the Players Cup, whilst also reducing the heavy scheduling that players in Champions League clubs have faced in previous seasons. In the 2024/2025 season Arsenal played 40 fixtures whilst West Ham played just 26th, a massive disparity. Furthermore, previously the Champions League playing sides skipped the former group stage and were automatically placed in the quarter finals by default, so the new league phase means that no team has any particular advantage, and they all have to compete right from the very start.
The Players Cup is guaranteed to have a first time winner this year, as only Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City have ever won it before. This new format will therefore be an exciting opportunity for more teams to prove their worth in domestic competitions, and to ensure that more clubs have a real chance to take home some silverware.
The Subway Players Cup is more than just a simple rebrand, but a space in which teams can shine and break through what has often been a routinely dominated landscape of women’s football in England.