Forest Green Scrap Women’s Team to Focus Resources on Men’s Promotion Push

What happened:

Watch the highlights:

Forest Green Rovers have scrapped their women’s team for the 2026-27 season, saying the club wants to “concentrate their resources” on returning the men’s team to the English Football League. The Guardian reports that the club hopes women’s football can return in the future, but the immediate decision is a full pause for the women’s side next season.

The timing is stark because the women’s team was not struggling competitively. Forest Green’s women finished second in their regional division of the fifth tier last season, missed promotion to the fourth tier by one point behind Torquay, and lost only one league match. On the field, the team had just produced a season that normally strengthens the case for investment rather than removal.

Why it matters:

This is a resource-allocation decision with competitive consequences in two directions. For the men’s side, Forest Green are prioritising the attempt to return to the EFL after relegation to the National League in 2024. That signals the club sees league status as the central financial and sporting objective.

For the women’s team, the cost is immediate continuity. A side coming off a near-promotion season loses the platform to build on it. Players, staff and supporters are left without a 2026-27 campaign at the club, and any future return would likely require rebuilding structures that were already close to moving up a tier.

Tournament impact:

At women’s regional level, Forest Green’s removal changes the competitive landscape before the season begins. A team that finished second and lost once is no longer part of the promotion race, which can affect the strength of the division and the pathway for clubs that were expecting to compete against them.

At club level, the decision sharpens the pressure on the men’s programme. When a club explicitly reallocates resources away from one team to support another, the chosen priority becomes easier to judge. If the men’s side moves closer to EFL return, the board will point to strategic focus. If not, the trade-off becomes harder to defend.

What to watch:

The next details that matter are practical rather than rhetorical: what happens to the women’s players and staff, whether the club maintains any girls’ or women’s pathway during the pause, and what conditions would trigger a future relaunch. The phrase “hope women’s football will return” leaves room, but it is not a timetable.

Confidence:

Confirmed by the source: Forest Green have disbanded the women’s team for 2026-27, cited resource concentration on the men’s EFL return push, and the women’s side finished second by one point after losing one league match. Still needing follow-up: whether player support arrangements are in place, whether any pathway teams remain, and when or how the club intends to restore women’s football.