Scottish Women's Football

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Celtic have confirmed left-back Emma Lawton and striker Saoirse Noonan are among the players leaving the club following the expiration of their contracts.

Goalkeeper Chloe Logan, Jenny Smith, who has joined Hearts, and Emma Westin have also departed while Tara O'Hanlon, Poppy Pritchard and Maddi Wilde return to their parent clubs following the conclusion of their loan deals.

The club have also announced their new home ground for the upcoming campaign - Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex.

The Glasgow club had been playing their home games at New Douglas Park last term but will make the switch for the start of the new season.

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Hearts will start their defence of the SWPL title at home to Aberdeen on Sunday 16 August.

Last season's runners-up Rangers will begin the campaign with a trip to Links Park to face Montrose.

Sky Sports Cup holders Glasgow City meet Scottish Cup winners Celtic at Petershill Park, having finished third and fifth respectively.

2025 champions Hibernian, who were fourth last term, host Motherwell, while newly-promoted Spartans will be at home to Partick Thistle.

The first Edinburgh derby will take place on 4 October, with the reverse fixture on 15 November. The capital bragging rights were split last season, with both sides winning two of the four fixtures.

Rangers and Celtic will meet on 27 September and 15 November. Leanne Crichton's side had the upper hand last time, as Rangers won all four league matches.

Hearts will be coached by Andy Thomson, who has moved from his assistant's role at Rangers to replace Eva Olid, who clinched the club's first title in her final match in charge.

Visit our fixtures page for details of the 2026-27 schedule.

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Celtic captain Kelly Clark has committed to a 14th year at Celtic after signing a contract for next season, while fellow stalwart Chloe Craig and goalkeeper Lisa Rodgers have also agreed new terms.

Centre-half Clark has made 378 appearances for the club, with Craig featuring in 320 games and Rodgers playing 33 times.

Craig, who has committed to a two-year deal, is a regular penalty taker and has scored more than 100 goals for last season's Scottish Cup winners. Rodgers, 20, has signed up for next season.

Head coach Grant Scott is delighted to retain the 32-year-old defenders, telling club media: "The impact both these players have made on women's football at this club is incredible.

"In terms of role models, you need look no further than what they've achieved, both on and off the pitch.

"They remain two important pieces of our squad and what we're trying to build and achieve here."

And Scott said of Rodgers: "Lisa is a young goalkeeper, who already has proven her worth at the club and at international level with Scotland underage.

"She's played her part in a number of high profile games and successes during her time here, which will only aid that development."

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Tao Stark is leaving Glasgow City after a mutual agreement to terminate her contract early.

The Finnish midfielder, 21, joined in January on a deal until summer 2028 but made just four appearances for the club.

Stark, who leaves with an SWPL Cup winner's medal, said: "I've really enjoyed my time at City, it's a great club with fantastic team-mates and I've learned a lot during my time here."

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Scotland midfielder Maria McAneny has signed a two-year contract extension with Celtic, keeping her at the club until summer 2028.

The 21-year-old academy graduate has made over 100 appearances and scored 13 goals and recorded five assists last term for the Scottish Cup winners.

McAneny earned a place in the Guinness World Records with her halfway-line strike against Hibernian last December, which was officially recognised as the fastest goal ever in women's professional football at 4.1 seconds.

"This is where I want to be as I love being here and I love being part of this club and it's something that I want to keep doing," said McAneny.

"I want to continue to keep winning trophies for this team and take it to the next level."

Head coach Grant Scott says McAneny is an "integral" player, adding: "As a player who's come through the academy system, she completely understands what the club is about and showcases the talent we are able to produce here."

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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Scotland head coach Melissa Andreatta is expecting a "tight game" when her side face Czech Republic in the first round of their World Cup play-off.

The Scots will face the Czechs over two legs and, should they progress, will face the winner of Sweden and Lithuania's play-off.

"I'm expecting a very tight game, especially when everything is on the line," Andreatta said.

"Everybody wants to be on the world stage at major tournaments so I wouldn't expect anything other than a very tight game, very competitive.

"It's going to go down to fine margins and we'll be prepared to take advantage of those fine margins so that we're on the better side."

Scotland edged their Nations League group on goal difference ahead of Belgium and were seeded for the draw as a result.

And Andreatta thinks the way the group stage played out will help her side in the play-offs.

"The way that it ended up playing out in the group stage for us was great preparation for what we're about to face," she added.

"If I know anything about this group, they're willing to do whatever it takes to be the team that goes through. All we'll focus on is ourselves to make sure that we put a performance together that earns the right to progress.

"Our attacking game is there to be seen. To score the most goals across the leagues and have the highest goalscorer in the team is something we're pleased about but the exciting thing is the potential of this team to continuing improving our attacking game.

"There's still lots of things to improve, lots of positives too, we're in a good position for just over a year of my tenure to be prepared for this play-off."

There's still a long way to go if Scotland want to qualify for next summer's World Cup in Brazil.

And seeing the supporters heading to the United States in their droves to support the men's team at this summer's tournament adds extra incentive.

"When I spoke to the players and the staff after the game when the boys qualified I knew how much it meant to them then," she added.

"I've just come from Edinburgh airport to see a lot of folk coming and going to the World Cup. The excitement is real, the passion is undeniable and of course we want to be a part of that.

"But we are also realistic and know there's a lot of hard work to be done before we do that. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves and just focus on what's next and that's game one against this formidable opponent.

"I've said it from the beginning, I see it as a team of possibility. With the trajectory that we're on I think anything is possible. On our day, rankings aside, anything is possible."

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Hearts will face FC Gintra and Rangers will play Slavia Prague in the Women's Champions League second qualifying round.

Both Hearts and Rangers have been drawn alongside three other teams and will contest in mini-tournaments comprising two semi-finals and a final.

Both semi-final matches will be played at a single venue on Wednesday 5 August, with the winners of each tie playing each other in a final on Saturday 8 August for a place in the third qualifying round. There will also be a third place play-off game on the same day.

Should Rangers win, they will face the winner of Ajax v Brondby in the final.

"We know it'll be tough, but the reality is it's where we wanted to be, it's brilliant" Rangers head coach Leanne Crichton told BBC Scotland.

"Regardless of who we were drawn against, for different reasons, it was going to be tough but on the face of it, it's a draw that we're looking forward to.

"We'll hope to go and prove ourselves and show that we deserve to be back on the European stage."

In Hearts' mini tournament, Danish side HB Koge will play the winner of group three from the first qualifying round - that could be one of Armenian outfit Pyunik, Welsh side Wrexham, Northern Irish team Glentoran or Latvian side Riga - in their semi-final. Should Hearts see off Gintra, they'd play the winner of that tie.

Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter

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Aston Villa have signed Scotland forward Mia McAulay from Rangers.

The 19-year-old progressed through the academy at Rangers and broke into the first team squad in the Scottish Women's Premier League.

She made her senior debut for Rangers at 16 and went on to make over 100 appearances for her childhood team.

The winger made her Scotland debut in May 2025 and has since gone on to make five appearances.

Earlier on Wednesday, Villa's top-scorer last season, Kirsty Hanson, joined Women's Super League rivals Tottenham.

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Scotland head coach Melissa Andreatta: "I'm mixed [emotions].

"I'm a bit all over the place to be honest.

"Proud, if I put some words on it right now, proud, really pleased with the campaign and the performances.

"In the second half we were aware of what was happening in that other game, we had processes in place to have that information handy, but I think what's bigger than pressure is expectation, and these players have high expectations of themselves, and no one can be harder on themselves than this group.

"I think to manage all that and perform the way that they have across the six games.

"Yeah, I'm just proud of them, and it puts us on the front foot and in good standing for the first playoff.

"I don't think she'll [Caroline Weir] like me talking too much about her.

"She's quite humble, you know what, she'd want me to talk about her teammates, and she is so well supported by the other leaders in the group."

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Scotland head coach Melissa Andreatta has been addressing the media as her side prepare for Tuesday's final World Cup group meeting with Israel in Hungary.

Here are the key points:

• Erin Cuthbert's knee injury in Friday's 6-0 win over Israel was not as bad as first feared, but the Chelsea midfielder is "heading home and will be in the care of her club", but when asked if the player would make October's play-offs, the Australian would simply be taking it "day by day".

• Andreatta revealed: "We have a replacement ready to go and you'll have to stay tuned for that one."

• "Squad depth is really important and that's been building really nicely over the 13 or so, 14 months that I've been in post and we'll be counting on that again tomorrow night," the head coach said.

• Andreatta is looking for "more of the same in terms of the performance".

• She was pleased with the number of chances created but stressed: "We want to turn those chances into higher-quality chances and hopefully that leads to a higher conversion rate too."

• With Scotland top of the group, four goals better off that Belgium, who visit Luxembourg at the same time, but Andreatta insisted: "We're going to stay in our bubble and focus on what we can control. That's when that whistle goes. We're on the front foot and building on the performance you saw on Friday night."

• There is no automatic qualification for the group winners, but it does come with a better seeding in the play-offs, but Andreatta said: "It's by-the-by really, path one, path two and the different seedings, we've looked into that and, ultimately, it's all about the next game and that's tomorrow night and when we get that job done, then we'll look ahead."

• As for Israel, Andreatta said: "All I know about this team is they're super competitive and, when they cross that white line and the whistle goes, it's anyone's game."

• Of her own team, she added: "I just see a group of people that are getting more connected and cohesive as a unit and we'll just keep doing what we've been doing to strengthen that further."

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Midfielder Erin Cuthbert will miss Scotland's World Cup qualifier with Israel on Tuesday and has returned to Chelsea for "a short period of rehabilitation" after injuring her knee, the Scottish FA have confirmed.

Cuthbert, 27, went off in the closing stages of Friday's 6-0 win over the Israelis in Budapest - having earlier scored - and was taken to hospital.

She has now returned to London "for further assessment".

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Kirsty Hanson heaped praise on Caroline Weir after the Scotland captain inspired a 6-0 victory over Israel in World Cup qualifying.

Weir scored a superb hat-trick as the Scots boosted their chances over topping Group B4.

They face Israel again on Tuesday, while second-placed Belgium take on Luxembourg.

"It is just good to have a captain like that," Hanson said. "Just look up to her, play with her, all learn off her but obviously she is a role model for everyone, so we all look up to her

"She sets the standards and, if she is playing well, we all play well.

"Very happy to score loads of goals, but we have another game and we just move on to the next one."

Hanson also got on the scoresheet late on as Melissa Andreatta's side significantly improved their goal difference.

Scotland and Belgium are both on 11 points, but the Scots are four ahead on goal difference before the final round of group fixtures.

"We just wanted to score as many goals as we can, so we did that, got the win we needed and on to the next game," Hanson added.

"We are just focused on ourselves.

"Just to be patient and play to our strengths. We maybe rushed things as we knew where we could hurt them.

"We had to be patient, move them around, find the gaps and we did that in the second half."

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Scotland head coach Melissa Andreatta: "The performance was what we were looking for and we knew that, if we took care of what we did with the ball, we'd put ourselves in the best position to get the result.

"Sure, there are things we need to improve upon, but with this group always wanting to make their best even better, I have no doubt we'll back on the training park ready to do that for game two.

"We'll keep fine-tuning our final-third actions.

"The game started really fast. We shaped the game and we dominated.

"It was a dominant performance and that's what we'll focus on - how we can continue to be dominant in game two.

"What is really pleasing is the variation, whether it is from open play or second-phase set-pieces.

"That makes it difficult for any opponent to try to nail down how to stop you.

"[Caroline Weir] leads from the front although she's in midfield and she's just a classy person and a classy player and, in situations that really matter, she stands up.

"That's what we needed tonight.

"We'll be back here to perform on Tuesday."

[On Erin Cuthbert's injury]: "You never want to see a player go down, but without any further information, I can't really comment. We'll just see how it pans out."

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Captain Rachael Boyle has signed a one-year contract extension to remain with Hibs for next season.

The 34-year-old former Scotland midfielder, who joined Hibs a decade ago, returned from several injury setbacks to make 23 appearances last season as Joelle Murray's side finished fourth in the SWPL.

"I'm absolutely delighted to extend my stay, I've had a lot of success, but I've also had to go through some tough times along the way, but with this club the positives always outweigh the negatives," said Boyle.

"After finishing last season strong, I am looking forward to getting back together with this group and building towards the aim of consistently competing at the top end of women's football in Scotland."

Head coach Murray added: "Rachael is a huge asset and has consistently proven that year after year, and again this season since returning from a lengthy injury setback, by leading the team to a strong SWPL finish."