Wed, June 10, 2026
Durham’s WSL2 team to “cease operations” if urgent funding not received
Durham’s Women’s Super League 2 (WSL2) team has stated that it will have to “cease operations” if urgent funding is not received within the next 21 days. WSL2 is the second tier of professional women's football in England.
The club is independently run and not connected to a professional men’s team, so it does not have the backing from a men’s professional side like other clubs. However, Durham has been competing in this league for 12 years. Though, it can “no longer keep pace” with the growing women’s game.
As the club has unfortunately been unable to secure investors, it released a statement at the beginning of the week expressing that the club: “does not have sufficient funds to operate in a fully compliant way in the Barclays Women’s Super League 2 for the 2026-27 season.”
From the 2024-25 season, lottery winners from the area invested in the club and acquired a 25% stake. Durham finished fourth in WSL2 in 2025, and 10th place this term out of the 12 teams involved.
The club previously reached the FA Cup and League Cup quarter finals twice. Additionally, the club's Under-16 and Under-21 teams both reached national finals last season. The club voiced: “That on-field success was accompanied by rapidly-growing attendances and sell-out crowds as Durham went toe-to-toe with the biggest names in the game.”
For a while, Durham was the sole team from the North East playing in the WSL structure, although both Newcastle and Sunderland are also now in WSL2.
A spokesperson from the Women's Super League told AOL: “Durham WFC are a valued club within the women's football pyramid.”
However, as the lottery owners only have a 25% stake in the club, the majority of the club is owned by Lee Sanders and Dawn Hepple, and they currently require a short-term investment to assist with the increasing cost of participating in the league which has risen since the league started to be independently managed by WSL, not the Football Association.
Clubs must now satisfy higher licensing standards such as employing more full time professional staff, meeting higher standards for facilities, training grounds and player welfare and complying with minimum salaries for players.
The club also voiced in its statement this week that: “We have today informed staff and players that unless a buyer or investor comes forward within the next 21 days, the club will have to cease operations at all levels. This would bring to a close nearly 20 years of championing the development of women’s and girl’s football in the North East. The club was founded in 2007 as a single under-10 girls grassroots team, before expanding quickly and becoming major achievers in the game. Some players from that team remain members of our first-team squad today…
The club’s current majority shareholders can no longer keep pace with the development of the women’s game. The club needs to continue – and they are now seeking to pass this over to a party who can build on this legacy and realise the opportunities that the club has moving forward.”
Durham’s full statement can be found here.
