Charlton get their fairytale ending to reach WSL after shootout drama

In sport, we love a full circle moment and a fairytale ending.

As Sophie Whitehouse saved her fourth penalty to catapult Charlton Athletic into the top flight of women’s football for the first time since 2008, it tied a bow on a tumultuous story 18 years in the making.

On a sweltering hot day at The Valley, Charlton and Leicester City arrived for a momentous occasion – the first promotion/relegation play-off match since 1988 – with 3,979 fans in attendance, beating Charlton’s previous best of 3,710 in 2003 against Arsenal.

For Leicester, the mission was simple: win and stay up. For Charlton, it was the opportunity to go up, a chance at redemption after letting automatic promotion slip through their fingers. They led the table for most of the season but suffered defeats to promotion rivals Crystal Palace, and on the final day, Birmingham City.

Both sides struggled to find momentum here, with neither scoring in the 90 minutes and, despite a few chances in extra time, a penalty shootout inevitably followed. Charlton won 2-1, with Whitehouse saving four of the Foxes’ five spot-kicks.

The celebrations were as expected: Freed From Desire blaring from the speakers, the team embracing and the fans cheering. It’s a historic moment for the south east London side who have fought hard to earn their place. 

Before the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea dominated English domestic football, it was Charlton who were the most successful women’s team in the country, competing in numerous cup finals, winning the League Cup twice and FA Cup once in 2005.

Two years later, the men’s team were relegated from the Premier League and the women’s team were controversially disbanded.

Since then, they have been fighting their way back to the top, beating Blackburn in the FA Women’s Premier League play-off final in 2018. 

In 2021, Karen Hills was appointed manager. She was part of the Charlton team that won the FA Cup in 2005 and returned with the aim of earning promotion to the WSL. Five years later, she has achieved that feat.

It may not have been done in the manner that she would’ve wanted but a win is a win, and the institutional backing of the WSL will offer Charlton more funding, competition against better teams and a taste of top-flight English football once again.

For Leicester, they will suffer a double relegation after their men’s side were demoted from the Championship to League One. Questions loom over what their future will look like. The women will, almost certainly, no longer play at the King Power Stadium.

So much of Leicester’s fate is also tied to the fortunes of their men’s side; the double relegation may bind the two sides more closely, for better or for worse.

Charlton have already had a taste of that during their disbandment. But this precariousness is what makes the league exciting. The WSL expansion to 14 teams was intended to improve competitiveness in the top league, to create jeopardy and affect league standings. Charlton made sure to deliver on that.

Photograph by Richard Pelham / Getty Images