Reading have withdrawn from the Barclays Women’s Championship for the 2024-25 season due to financial issues and will drop into the fifth tier.
The club confirmed to the Football Association and the Women’s Professional Game they would not be able to meet the ongoing compliance requirements needed to continue in the higher division.
Reading will compete in the Southern Region Football League Premier Division next term after an application to re-enter the pyramid was accepted.
The Championship will operate with 11 clubs during the upcoming season and only have one relegation place.
“Reading Football Club can today confirm it has reluctantly withdrawn from the Barclays Women’s Championship for the 2024-25 season, with the women’s first team now moving to tier five of the women’s football pyramid,” read a club statement.
“The club understand the demotion to tier five will come as a huge disappointment for all connected with the club. This solution, however, does provide the club with the opportunity to continue to operate a women’s football department.
“Whilst the club recognises and encourages the huge rise in popularity and commercialisation of the women’s game, it unfortunately does not have guarantees of the required finances to increase investment in to Reading FC Women.”
In January, an English Football League statement said Reading owner Dai Yongge “is no longer in a position – or does not have the motivation – to support the club financially”.
The Chinese businessman was urged “either to fund the club adequately or to make immediate arrangements to sell his majority share”.
A takeover has yet to materialise, while a last-gasp attempt by a consortium to save the women’s sector, which at one point included current England internationals Fran Kirby and Mary Earps, reportedly fell through.
Dawn Airey, chair of the Women’s Championship board, said: “We have been working closely with the club throughout the season and have made every effort to find a solution and to prevent this outcome.
“We are deeply saddened by the impact this will have on the Reading FC Women players, staff and fans, as they have all played a key role in women’s football and within their wider community.”
The intention is for the Women’s Championship to return to 12 clubs and two relegation places from the start of the 2025-26 campaign.
“It was also very important to us to find a way to ensure that Reading FC Women could continue to participate in the women’s football pyramid next season,” Airey continued in her statement.
Supporters’ Trust at Reading (STAR) called for the FA to offer a new, achievable deadline to rectify the situation.
The group also wants ownership to be passed on to a party committed to preserving the club’s status in the Women’s Championship.
“This move undermines our club’s integrity and the progress of women’s football,” STAR wrote in a letter addressed to the club and the FA.
“This decision extends beyond football. It is a decision that affects our community, gender equality and our club’s heritage.”
Sell Before We Dai – a Reading fan group calling for a change of ownership – also criticised the decision.
“Sad news confirmed. Devastated for the women and girls who called #ReadingFC their team,” read a post on X.
“Thoughts and thanks to those who fought to save them, shame on those who let it happen. How much more of this can we take? Sell The Club.”