Record crowd for Elgin City Women title win highlights potential of Barclays leagues
Elgin’s title win in front of a record 432 fans shows how SWF’s national leagues are going from strength to strength under title sponsorship from Barclays.
The crowd for Elgin’s final Barclays Scottish Women’s League One match against Queen of the South on 17 May broke a new record for the fourth tier of women’s football in Scotland, beating several crowds in higher leagues on the day.
Elgin City won the Barclays Scottish Women’s League One title on a dramatic final day which could have seen Dunipace or St Mirren crowned instead, in the tightest title race yet. Dunipace won by five goals in Denny, but Elgin secured the win they needed over Queen of the South to claim the title. Elgin’s Norwegian striker Mia Lundberg scored in a 2-1 win as the club marked Norway Day in front of Norwegian fans who had travelled over for the title party.
Donald Cameron
Reported attendances saw a 15% increase this season across the Barclays leagues, with a 7.5% increase to the average crowd in the Barclays Championship and a 36% increase in the average crowd in Barclays League One, helped in no small part by the enthusiasm for Elgin City, who will now be competing in the Championship for the third year of the partnership.
This season also saw a record turnout (200) in the Barclays Championship at the Falkirk stadium in October, as Falkirk and Stenhousemuir used their Barclays Scottish Women’s Championship derby to mark Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week 2025.
The recent ScottishPower SWF senior cup finals also saw a record attendance of over 1,000 spectators.
Renfrew Ladies won the Barclays Scottish Women’s Championship with two games to go, having overtaken Falkirk with an impressive run since the start of the year. Falkirk didn’t miss out on promotion, however, beating East Fife 2-1 in the play-off final and will be joining Renfrew in SWPL2 next season.
Bishopton and Edinburgh South have won their promotion play-offs and will be joining the Barclays leagues next season! They will be joined by either Huntly or Giffnock, who play each other this Sunday for the third promotion place play-off.
Armadale Thistle finished 11th in the Championship after Morton beat them 2-1 on the final day and will play Dunipace in the Barclays Championship play-off this Sunday in Stenhousemuir.
