OOH Lincoln Ladies were the surprise team to be included in next year’s Women’s Super League, the Football Association announced this week.
Lincoln and Northern Division rivals Liverpool – second and first in their league respectively – are the only sides from outside the Premier League to be chosen.
The two sides will be joined by their more successful counterparts Arsenal, Chelsea and Everton as well as Birmingham City, Bristol Academy and Doncaster Rovers Belles.
Current Premier Division leaders and last season’s FA Cup finalists Sunderland and a host of other top flight sides, including Blackburn, Millwall, Nottingham Forest and Watford, have been overlooked.
Meanwhile, League Cup winners Leeds Carnegie withdrew its application earlier this year after Leeds Metropolitan University, who run and fund the club, could not commit to the substantial increase in budgets proposed.
The Super League will start in March 2011, running during the summer months, and will see each team field a mixture of professional and semi-professional players with the hope of more foreign players playing in England.
