Managing manager Fiona McIntyre hopes this season's slimmed down Scottish Women's Premier League operation volition spell a agelong mode to realising her "dream" of a wholly full-time apical flight.
McIntyre believes it would beryllium an "incredible achievement" if an each full-time part was achieved by 2035 - earlier a imaginable shared location nations World Cup.
"I deliberation that's the imagination scenario," McIntyre told BBC Scotland arsenic fixtures for the 10-team league - 2 less than past play - were announced.
It was lone successful caller years that Celtic, Heart of Midlothian, existent champions Hibernian and Rangers created nonrecreational sides to situation the dominance of the autarkic Glasgow City.
"Even if you look backmost 3 years, erstwhile we acceptable the SWPL up, I don't deliberation galore would person comprehended that we'd beryllium sitting with 5 full-time clubs already," McIntyre said.
"The implicit ambition is to person a full-time league, but it has to beryllium a full-time sustainable league for our clubs and that's the challenge, due to the fact that it costs important wealth for clubs to spell full-time."
The slimmed down SWPL is designed to marque fixtures much competitory each week.
Teams volition again play 1 different erstwhile location and distant earlier the league split, but whereas past season, erstwhile it was 2 sections of six, this clip it volition beryllium a apical six and bottommost four.
While the apical fractional play for the rubric and Champions League qualification for the remaining location and distant games, the bottommost 4 volition conflict to debar relegation, with the bottommost broadside relegated and the ninth-placed squad taking portion successful a one-off play-off last against the promotion play-off victor from SWPL2.
It means the apical six volition play 28 league fixtures and the bottommost 4 volition play 24 fixtures compared to 32 past term.
"The fig of games we have, peculiarly successful SWPL 1, is peculiarly high," McIntyre explained. "We person much games than immoderate different league successful Europe astatine the moment.
"Also, the competitiveness of our games is simply a challenge. Pre-split successful SWPL 1, the information shows america astir apt what we've each seen anecdotally, which is we don't person arsenic competitory fixtures arsenic we would like.
"The upside is that, post-split, we person the astir competitory league successful Europe, truthful it's trying to wed each of those things together."
The caller format besides takes into information changes to satellite governing assemblage Fifa's planetary calendar - and information designed to comparison alternate league sizes.
"From 2026, immoderate of the planetary windows volition tally implicit consecutive weekends, truthful we suffer play dates to our calendar," McIntyre pointed out.
"We fundamentally ran immoderate algorithms to enactment out, if we stayed astatine 12, what quality does that would marque if we alteration the format. If we spell to 10, if we spell to eight, however does that impact that extremity differential successful presumption of competitiveness - and what we landed connected was 10.
"That was the optimum that allowed america to present much competitively but besides retaining a important fig of games whilst reducing it down capable that it allows america to relationship for the changes that are coming to the calendar."
McIntyre points retired that a smaller bottommost fractional of the SWPL volition trim the fig of meaningless games astatine the extremity of the season, portion determination volition beryllium accrued contention astatine the apical of SWPL2, with sides finishing second, 3rd and 4th progressive successful promotion play-offs.
English (US) ·