Women’s Championship four players to watch 2023/24 – data analysis

Last weekend, the Womens Championship reached its climax, with Crystal Palace finishing the season as champions and gaining promotion to the WSL.

Over the past decade, we have seen a number of players make the step up from Womens Championship to WSL, such as England national team stars Beth Mead, Fran Kirby and Millie Bright, along with more recently players such as Poppy Pritchard moving Durham to Manchester City.

In this data analysis, we highlight four players we think are ready to make the step up from Womens Championship to WSL in the near future. We will do this by looking at a range of data and statistics that aim to shine a light on players in a range of different aspects of the game.

Rachel Brown, 23 (Sheffield Utd) – right back

One of the first players we are going to look at is Sheffield United right-back Rachel Brown. Having played a total of 1975 minutes for the Blades over the 2023/24 season, she became a vital part of the side as they finished in seventh position. Let’s take a more in-depth look at some of the underlying numbers that make her an interesting proposition for a WSL side.

In this graph, we compare the contribution of every Womens Championship player who played 500 minutes or more on the field. 

We have compared PAdj interceptions with defensive duels to try to identify players who are excelling defensively. PAdj interceptions are a good statistic for interpreting game understanding, while defensive duels are particularly good indicators for indicating one-on-one duels, which is going to be a key aspect of the game for a full-back.