Inside Man City’s first WSL triumph since 2016: How Andree Jeglertz’s side overcame 10 years of disappointment to dethrone Chelsea

Let’s first address the elephant in the room. It’s widely recognised that there is a ‘Big Four’ in the WSL, made up of City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal - but there are just three Champions League places. As such, one of the big guns misses out on European football every season and, last term, it was City.

Not having to juggle that very demanding competition on this year’s schedule gave Jeglertz's side an advantage in the WSL title race that is impossible to ignore, especially given United, Chelsea and Arsenal all made it through to the European quarter-finals.

"That extra space keeping everybody fit just gives you options,” Marc Skinner, the United boss who watched his squad struggle to deal with the demands of competing on four fronts, said. Chelsea, too, have had a lot of injuries to deal with in recent months.

On the flip side, it must be said that there is also added pressure and expectation to do well in the WSL when there is no European football as a distraction. Excuses go out the window.

"We really must aim for first place," City midfielder Yui Hasegawa said before the season, speaking to GOAL. "We can focus on the domestic league."

It’s a factor in City’s title triumph, but it’s not the main one, nor is it even one of the biggest. If it was that significant, the team that missed out on Champions League football would always win the title. In reality, it’s not happened since Chelsea’s victory in 2020.

So, what have been the main reasons for City’s incredible season? It’s hard to look beyond Jeglertz’s impact as a starting point.

Though an experienced coach who was twice named Manager of the Year in Sweden, that while leading a star-studded Umea side that featured Brazilian superstar Marta and won the Champions League in 2004, the 54-year-old arrived in Manchester to little fanfare.

That’s because he’d failed to help Denmark, led by the talismanic Bayern Munich star Pernille Harder, pick up a single point at the 2025 European Championship. And yet, Jeglertz has bounced back extraordinarily to lead City to a first WSL title in 10 years.

How did he do it? Most notably with a change in style and set-up of the team. City have long been a possession-based side, but under Jeglertz, they have adopted a slightly more direct approach, while still having a lot of the ball. It makes for fast, attacking football and lots of goals, which has been necessary because the defence has, as a result, also leaked a few more.

"We're a lot more fluid and I think there's a lot of freedom, especially in midfield," Lauren Hemp, a constant on the left wing, noted. "I end up sort of floating from left side to right, and in between as well."

Differences in the system have been most notable in midfield. Under previous coach Gareth Taylor, Hasegawa sat deep while two more attacking midfielders played in front of her, albeit with them still bogged down by some defensive responsibilities.

Under Jeglertz, Hasegawa plays with Laura Blindkilde Brown or Sam Coffey in a two-woman base which gives Vivianne Miedema much more license to roam, while also allowing Hasegawa and her chosen partner to get forward when opportunities arise.

It’s a good example of how there is a necessary structure to this City team, but also freedom and nuance, depending on the personnel. Another case is on the right wing. Aoba Fujino, a more traditionally direct winger in the way she hugs the touchline and delivers quality crosses, and Kerolin, a tricky Brazilian who loves to cut inside more as she turns defenders inside out, have been the more regular choices in that position.

"They have about the same role, but they're totally different," Jeglertz noted. "I think that's what makes us a little bit more unpredictable than other teams."

"We're putting players in positions where they can be their best, optimise their performance," he added. "I think it's about having a structure where everybody knows what we are doing, but at the same time feeling that it makes me, as a player, the best player I can be. I give the players a feeling that they have so many things that they can do on themselves. They just know what we're aiming for."

That applies particularly to Miedema, who has enjoyed her best season since a devastating ACL tear back in 2022. Prior to that, the Dutchwoman was an absolute force, leading the WSL’s all-time goal-scoring charts as a result. She’s since had to deal with a long rehab, some subsequent surgeries and struggled to stay fit for an entire season – until now.

With her brace in the dominant Manchester derby win at Old Trafford in March, Miedema hit 10 league goals for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign, thus becoming the first player in WSL history to reach double-figures in five different seasons. With five assists on top of those, in 19 appearances, she’s been sensational.

But it’s not just been about her output in a goal contribution sense. Miedema’s blossoming partnership with star striker Khadija Shaw has also been crucial, and the presence of two world-class centre-forwards, with one deployed slightly deeper, has posed a unique challenge for opponents. While teams can be "pre-occupied trying to deal with Bunny [Shaw]", as Skinner put it after Miedema netted twice against his United side, the Dutchwoman can strike instead.

That divided attention has also worked at times to benefit Shaw, who has been the league’s stand-out player this season. The Jamaica international has netted 19 goals in 21 league appearances to all-but-guarantee a third Golden Boot, while helping to fire her team to what is her first WSL title.

"The best forward in the world by a mile," Martin Ho, the Tottenham head coach, said after Shaw hit the fastest hat-trick in league history against his side in March. "She scores, good with her head, good with her feet, good with her back to goal, good link-up play, good movement - but not just her. You have her and Viv working off one another. You have Kerolin on one side, you have Lauren on the other, and if they're not coming to feet, they're going behind you. Their relationships are really good on the pitch and you can see that connection's been there for a while."

But it’s not just Shaw’s goals that have made a telling contribution to City’s first WSL triumph in 10 years. For one, there’s her availability, the absence of which was certainly detrimental to the title push in 2023-24 that fell at the last hurdle. Then there’s her defensive effort, which does not go overlooked by her team-mates.

"I think when she's pressing, she is one of the best pressing nines in this league and the world,” Coffey, the United States midfielder who joined the club in January, said, while Shaw's defending from set-pieces is a huge asset, too.

"She does also do the stuff off the ball that helps us a lot," Hemp added.

Yet, it almost feels unfair to single out certain individuals in this City team, because there have been so many top performers across the board in a remarkable season.

At right-back, Kerstin Casparij has been one of the best players in the entire WSL, leading the division in assists; Jade Rose’s first season at the club has been superb, with her settling in at centre-back with ease; Blindkilde Brown has had a breakout year, establishing herself as a fixture in midfield; Hasegawa’s consistent brilliance has, again, impressed and astounded; Hemp, Fujino, Kerolin and Mary Fowler have added variety and quality to the wide areas – the list goes on.

City have unquestionably been the best team in the league this season, and it takes everyone to achieve that.

There was, though, a wobble. After the 5-1 thumping of Chelsea in February established an 11-point lead at the top of the table, a gap bigger than any in WSL history, City’s next three games saw them drop points twice, which was a real shock given the win over the Blues was their 13th in a row. Defeat at Arsenal followed before a goalless draw at Aston Villa, which gave the chasing pack a glimmer of hope.

A surprise 3-2 loss at Brighton in late April then really put the cat amongst the pigeons, especially when combined with events of the following week, when City hosted Liverpool. It was expected to be the day on which they lifted the title, but for 90 minutes, it instead looked like it would be the day on which they threw it away.

Anything other than a win would have taken City's destiny out of their own hands and, as the clock ticked into stoppage time, it looked like they were going to have to settle for a point. But then another important factor intervened: Luck.

There is always luck involved in football, and it’s rare that a team wins a trophy without at least a little bit of it. Similarly, there’s almost always a wobble, especially when a team is going for its first league title in 10 years, with a group that has not got over the line before.

Liverpool goalkeeper Jennifer Falk had kept City at bay all afternoon with a string of impressive saves and yet, when Rebecca Knaak headed goalwards in the 91st minute, producing an effort that looked straight-forward enough for Falk to save, it somehow evaded the Sweden international and ended up in the back of the net. As the sheer emotion of the celebrations showed, it was massive.

Had Arsenal won their three games in hand after that point, there would’ve still been work to do at West Ham on the final day. But the Gunners, fresh off the back of a demanding Champions League adventure that ended in heart-breaking fashion in the semi-finals, couldn’t keep up their impressive winning run. A 1-1 draw at Brighton on Wednesday night ended the suspense, crowning Man City the 2025-26 WSL champions.

This City team isn’t perfect. Miedema’s absence in recent weeks, for personal reasons, has been notable, with City clearly not as good a team without her contributions. Opponents have cottoned on to the fact that the defence can be exploited in behind, too, especially with left-back an obvious need in the summer transfer market.

Then there is all the speculation that continues to surround Shaw, which can't have helped in recent weeks. The striker is out of contract this summer and has been presented with a blockbuster offer by Chelsea that, thus far, City have not matched.

But City have still been the best team in the WSL this season and deserve to be crowned champions of England. Some of the football they have produced has been scintillating, the connections across the attack are excellent and Jeglertz, in just his first year in charge, has set the players up in a system that gets the best out of so many of them.

This summer, he’ll have plenty of time to strengthen areas of weakness and improve the depth in certain positions ahead of what will be an even harder 2026-27 campaign, as City return to the Champions League proper for just the second time in five years.

For now, though, they can bask in what they have achieved. City have come so close in the 10 years since that last title, which was achieved with the likes of Lucy Bronze, Jill Scott and Toni Duggan in the squad. After the heartbreak of 2021, when they fell two points short, and the devastation of 2024, when only goal difference separated the top two, City are finally Women’s Super League champions again – and what worthy champions they are.