Charlton Women: How former powerhouse that challenged Arsenal and won the FA Cup is back in the WSL
Charlton's Karen Hills and Sophie Whitehouse on the Addicks dramatic and overdue return to the WSL; watch Charlton vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports+, kick-off 2pm; watch in-game clips and free match highlights shortly after full-time on Sky Sports' digital platforms
Monday 31 August 2026 10:57, UK
In the 90s and 00s, Charlton were a powerhouse in women's football. Regularly competing with Arsenal and in multiple cup finals, it has taken them 19 years to return to the top flight in England.
The Addicks helped lay the foundations for the success we now see in the women's game in the UK - but like many teams, their fortunes have often been inextricably linked to the success of their male counterparts.
It was the men's relegation to the Championship in 2007 that saw the women's team disbanded - just two years after winning the FA Cup. They eventually secured sponsorship and were run by the Charlton Community Trust, but many of the players left and the club struggled to stabilise.
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It took 11 years for the club to earn promotion to the then-Women's Championship in 2018 - but it was 2021 that proved to be a transformative year for Charlton.
The team was bought back under the club's control, former Addick Karen Hills was appointed as head coach and they went fully professional. The target ever since has been the WSL - and now they are preparing for their first year back in England's top league since 2008, facing Liverpool on Sunday in their season opener, live on Sky Sports.
Hills - the first manager to guide two clubs to WSL promotion - exclusively told Sky Sports: "To have Charlton back in the top division almost 20 years on is a 'pinch me' moment... the club deserves to be there.
"To finish the way that we did [last season], I always talk about it as being a fairytale season for us, but it's nothing that they [the players] don't deserve. The commitment, the work rate, the desire to get themselves over the line the way they did. It was an unbelievable achievement.
"The biggest thing now is we have to respect the teams, but we shouldn't fear them. We're here for a reason and we got here on merit. We don't want to just make numbers up. We want to be here to be competitive, sustainable and to try and push Charlton back to where it was 20 years ago."
How Whitehouse's penalty heroics fired Charlton to the WSL
Their top-flight return came in dramatic circumstances. Charlton led the WSL2 table for much of the 2025/26 season, having gone on an incredible 27-match unbeaten run. In fact, they were top heading into the final day, although a run of poor form late on saw Birmingham and Crystal Palace catch up.
Reflecting on the end of season spell, Hills said: "Going into the second half of the season, we knew the transfer window in the winter was more successful for other teams and maybe not as successful for us.
"You also start to get a little bit fatigued and to keep that winning mentality going against teams around us that had strengthened was always going to be a challenge. There were then two disappointing games against Crystal Palace and Birmingham where we were close, but didn't quite get over the line."
One of the games Hills mentioned was a straight shoot-out with the Blues at The Valley on the final day to secure promotion - but Charlton lost 2-0, and with their south London rivals also winning, the Addicks eventually finished third.
It meant they faced a relegation/promotion play-off against Leicester - the first to be played in the English game. After a goalless draw, Charlton won on penalties with goalkeeper Sophie Whitehouse saving four of the Foxes' five spot kicks in an extraordinary performance.
The goalkeeper explained: "In training, we always go through the penalty takers before a game. Me and the goalkeeping coach will go through where they potentially have gone before, what's likely to happen depending on their run-up and the day before, we practise penalties for the outfield players.
"But then me and the other 'keeper, Anna [Pedersen], we would stay out for an extra five minutes and she would say 'I'm [Noemie] Mouchon' and then she shot exactly where we thought she would, so I was already prepared for potentially where they would go.
"But then in the play-off, Emily van Egmond stepped up and we had no data on her penalties, so you have to adapt and base it off of what you've done your whole career.
"In the shoot-out, I thought 'I just need to save one and that will give us a great opportunity', and I saved the first one. I was like 'okay, perfect' - and then we missed. I thought 'oh no, I actually have to save another one now!', so I saved another one and then we missed again. I was like 'come on!', so then I had to save again.
"After that, I was just having fun. Everyone asked me what was I thinking, but in that moment, I was like 'we've got this far, now all I can do is my best and be proud of the team regardless'. Then it all happened and I feel like it's because I felt so chilled and I was in the moment."
'We're all like our own superstars'
This is not Hills' first rodeo in preparing a team for the WSL. She earned promotion with Tottenham in 2019 and has steadily built towards this exact moment with Charlton.
"Things looks very different from where we were five years ago to where we are now, which is a good thing for the women's game," Hills said.
"When you're a new team [in the WSL], you've got to try and stay in there. That is your main focus, so all your effort and attention goes into each and every one of those league games as much as possible.
"You look at some of the teams that have been in there for a long time, they're going after the Champions League and the cups. There's a different pressure on them, but our pressure is we need to try and be as successful and consistent as we can to pick up points to try and make sure that we stay in. Then you go and build again and try and keep being progressive.
"Unfortunately, we haven't got an open cheque book that can go and buy the best players in the world, but sometimes I think that's a good thing. I like that underdog feel.
"I like that we're going to work really hard at every single point. We're going to enjoy it, but at the same time, we also know that it's going to be a huge challenge, but we're ready to take on the journey and run with it."
Both Hills and Whitehouse are realistic that this season will be a far bigger challenge than anything they have faced in recent years - but the goalkeeper has pinpointed what could keep Charlton in the league.
"We thrive when we're the underdogs," she added. "There's already talk that we'll probably struggle, but we're a solid team that works really hard for each other and defends really well.
"Other teams that have been top of the WSL2 have been ball-playing teams who come up to the WSL and think 'we can play just as well as Man City', but we're being realistic.
"We know we don't necessarily have unbelievable superstars, but we all work really hard and I think that's what's going to keep us in the league. We're all like our own superstars."
Watch Charlton vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports+ from 1.55pm, kick-off 2pm. Follow across Sky Sports digital platforms and watch in-game clips and free match highlights shortly after full-time.
