Popular WSL fantasy football app ‘Ariel Fantasy’ announces its shutting down. Getty

The most popular fantasy football app in the Women’s Super League known as ‘Ariel Fantasy’ is set to shut down at the end of the 2025-26 season.

Co-founders Dani Gonçalves and Jimmy launched the app in 2023 after seeing a gap for a fantasy football league designed specifcally for women’s football.

The app was one of several inspired by the success of the Lionesses at EURO 2022 and since its inception has reached more than 30,000 active football managers.

It was announced on their website that the app would not be returning next season due to difficulties with funding and sustaining it as an unofficial platform.

“Of course, the team and I are gutted. We genuinely love this game and this community,” Dani said.

“However, after putting in all the time and effort to make it exist, we realised it also needed to sustain itself financially.

“We’ve also found that brands have been hesitant to work with an unofficial game, giving us even less options.

“It’s never sat right with me personally how much hard work it is to be a fan of women’s football, or how much of it gets treated like a charity when it delivers great value and should be treated as such.

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“I know that the industry is still in its infancy and things will get better as we continue to invest, but it bothers me how so much in men’s football is a given and in women’s football a lot is still a question.

“I wanted our fantasy game to be a given.

“No matter if you’ve been a fan for one year or 10 years, I wanted this game to be a fun experience to bring you closer to the league and to one another, without any barriers of cost or quality.”

Manchester City currently sit eight points clear at the top of the WSL table and are on course to win their first title in a decade.