SWPL: Can 14-in-a-row champions Glasgow City do it again as league returns?

A new season begins but the question remains the same - can anyone topple champions Glasgow City?

But this year it's all change at the champions. Manager Scott Booth has departed for Birmingham City, club greats Leanne Ross and Leanne Crichton no longer feature on the teamsheet, and the Old Firm have again delved into the transfer market and spent big.

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The top flight has been expanded to 10 clubs, meaning new threats from Aberdeen and Hamilton. Hearts and Motherwell are under new management, while Hibernian and Spartans are looking to improve.

But already Forfar Farmington have hung up their boots, citing an inability to put a team together for the campaign. Partick Thistle have taken their place, leaving behind a seven-team SWPL 2.

Will City make it 15 in a row, or is the end of the dynasty near? BBC Scotland runs the rule over those fighting it out for silverware.

New City

Glasgow City are once again the team to beat in SWPL1

There is an air of uncertainty over Glasgow City this year.

Head coach Booth spent six years at the club, winning six league titles, a Scottish Cup and leading them into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. But Birmingham City and the Women's Super League came calling, and now it is a new era for the champions.

In the 14 seasons that City have topped Scottish women's football, the closest any manager has come to toppling them was three years ago, when Grant Scott's Hibernian side went through an entire campaign losing just once - yet that single defeat cost them a domestic treble.

This time, it is Scott who will lead City into the new league campaign, though he will not finish the season with them. Instead, an as-yet-unknown coach is due to take charge once their contract ends with their current club. City are keeping their cards close to their chest as to whom he or she may be, but the educated guess is it is someone from outside Scotland.

Ross was the only player to have won every single one of those 14 titles but she has decided at the age of 40 to retire, though she will remain at the club as assistant coach. Crichton is also giving coaching a try but at SWPL1 rivals Motherwell as assistant to Paul Brownlie.

If City have weakened they haven't shown it yet. They topped their SWPL Cup group - which preceded the league campaign - undefeated. And they are one game away from the Champions League group stage after wins over Birkirkara and BIIK Kazygurt and a draw away to Servette of Switzerland in the first leg of their play-off.

Victory on Wednesday over Servette would bring in a guaranteed 400,000 euros (£340,000) in prize money, which may just be enough to add some more big names and stave off any threat to their rule of the Scottish game.

Expectations rise at Old Firm

Celtic and Rangers were second and third last term

Celtic spent much of last season talking up their role as underdogs and claimed everyone was writing them off. They have not departed from that message this term.

In a three-way fight for the title last season, they finished second; splitting City and their old adversaries Rangers. That secured them a Champions League berth, although defeats by Spain's Levante and FC Minsk of Belarus ended their campaign in the first qualifying round.

"Last year everyone was telling us we were the third horse in a three-horse race, so really nobody was giving anything for us, it was only us believing in ourselves" said head coach Fran Alonso.

"But we managed to finish second and left a huge budget [Rangers] out of the Champions League. This year those teams [Rangers and Glasgow City] have got stronger and everyone expects us to do better than we did last year. In my opinion we are still the third favourite this year."

Rangers spent big and finished third, though they were hampered by injuries to Kirsty Howat and Megan Bell. This summer they have strengthened again, with Scotland striker Jane Ross the standout name, arriving from Manchester United.

A new Aberdeen and a Spanish invasion

Aberdeen are one of the promoted sides in this season's SWPL1

There are now three Spanish coaches holding top jobs in Scottish women's football. Alonso is leading Celtic's title charge and Jose Martinez Losa has taken over the national side.

Eva Olid has also arrived at Hearts, who finished bottom of the top flight last season but were saved with there being no relegation.

Edinburgh rivals Hibernian were for so long Glasgow City's biggest rivals but last season they were 27 points off top spot. Dean Gibson's side are promising a return to former glories and have bolstered their squad with a string of signings while, crucially, they have not been decimated by players departing for elsewhere like previous years.

Aberdeen were previously in the top flight four years ago under the guise of Aberdeen Ladies. After two successive relegations, they have been rebranded as Aberdeen Women, been taken in-house by the Pittodrie club and have hit back with back-to-back promotions. On the eve of the new season they have also added former Dundee United boss Gavin Beith as co-manager, who arrives to join Emma Hunter in the dugout.

And the biggest return this season will be the two domestic cups, which were not contested in 2020-21 with the campaign shortened due to Covid-19.