The women's side of Charlton Athletic, from south-east London. They were once among the pioneers of English women's football and won silverware, though the operation was scaled back when the men's club hit financial trouble.

Built back up through the lower divisions, they now enter their first ever season in the WSL.

Charlton finished third in WSL 2 and went into the play-offs. In May 2026 they beat Leicester City on penalties at The Valley to win promotion for the first time; Leicester dropped out of the WSL as a result.

Karen Hills, appointed in March 2021, spent 11 years turning Tottenham into a WSL club — and has now done the same at Charlton.

Shared with the men's team, and the venue for the play-off that took them up. It seats over 20,000 and will host their first WSL home matches.

With the league expanded, a play-off between the 13th-placed WSL side and the WSL 2 runners-up now comes in — so the survival maths looks different for a debut season.

Goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse (#1), signed from Lewes, kept eight clean sheets in WSL 2. Kiera Skeels (DF) is the captain.

Gillian Kenney (MF) was the team's top scorer. A solid defence and goals at the right moments is what carried them through the play-offs.