The Jersey Football Association and the Guernsey Football Association are pleased to announce the extension of the Women’s Channel Islands League for the forthcoming season.

The league, launched as an experiment last year in Jersey, will see one new team involved in 2019/20, with Guernsey Ladies FC entering, and for the first time matches will be played in both islands, with all six teams playing each other home and away.

The league also has a sponsor for the first time, with backing from Condor Ferries, who will be helping with inter-island travel arrangements for the teams involved.

The two associations say the development of the competition is a significant step in the progress of the women’s game in both islands.

Jersey Football Association CEO Jean-Luc Desbois said: “On the back of a hugely successful Women’s World Cup, we hope local players will embrace this expanded new inter-insular competition.

“We’re pleased to be working closely with our colleagues in Guernsey to offer Channel Islands’ women the opportunity to test themselves against different opposition.

“The Condor Ferries Women’s Channel Islands League is an exciting new innovation and is part of our wider strategic plan to modernise Jersey football.”

Guernsey FA director James Falla said: “We and the Jersey Football Association have had an ambition to work together on a Channel Islands domestic structure for women for the past three years. It has taken longer than we would have hoped to reach this stage, but we look forward to seeing this competition develop and flourish over the next few years.

“The GFA is delighted to have secured significant support for the league from Condor Ferries. The cost of travel could be prohibitive for a pan-island set up, but Condor’s backing makes it much easier to get the league started, and then hopefully to grow. We thank them for their enthusiasm for the project.”

Paul Luxon, CEO at Condor Ferries, said: “We are pleased to provide backing for the Women’s Channel Islands League through our newly-established Community Fund, and this is part of our ongoing commitment to improve inter-island links for sport and other events.”

The six teams involved in the Condor Ferries Women’s Channel Islands League will be Guernsey Ladies FC and North Ladies (who were last season’s winners as Ormer Ladies) from Guernsey, and JTC Jersey Wanderers, St Lawrence, Rozel Rovers and Grouville from Jersey.

The season is expected to begin on 1 September, with the first round of inter-island matches primarily played between then and mid-October.

Both the Guernsey FA and Jersey FA offer significant support and opportunities for girls’ and women’s football in the islands, and look forward to seeing an increase in participation following England’s strong showing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.