In an effort to increase quality of the league, in the 2009–10 season two teams were relegated and four teams were promoted to the first league. Thus, the 2010–11 season consisted of twelve teams.[1]Fashion One TV became the official media sponsor of the league for the 2010–11 season.[2] At this time the league gained little attention in Turkey.[3] After playing two groups with six teams and then having a championship and relegation group, the 2012–13 season was played as a double-round robin with ten teams again. The winner after 18 games was the champion and qualifies for the UEFA Women's Champions League, the bottom two teams get relegated. In 2016–17 there again was introduced a championship and relegation round after the regular season.
For the 2019–20 league season, the number of participating teams was increased from ten to twelve again after eight seasons. No relegation was planned to take place, so that the planned number of teams would be achieved with two promoted teams from the Women's Second League. However, Trabzon İdmanocağı had to be relegated since they did not show up in the entire previous season. To replace them, a third team from the Second League was promoted.[4] All three women's leagues of the 2019-20 season were stopped on 8 March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.[5]
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the 2020–21 season of the Women's First Football League, after renaming the Turkcell Women's Football League, will take start with delay on 17 April 2021. The season was dedicated to healthcare workers, and named 2021 Turkish Turkcell Women's Football League Healthcare Workers' Season (Turkish: 2021 Sağlık Çalışanları Futbol Ligi). The league consisted of 16 teams, including all the 12 teams from the previous season and 4 teams promoted from the Second League's previous season. The teams were divided into four groups of four teams each, with one promoted team in each group. Each team in the group played only three matches in a round-robin tournament. The top two teams of the four groups play quarter-finals and semi-finals in Single-elimination tournament. The winner of the final match, on 4 May 2021, represented Turkey at the 2021–22 UEFA Women's Champions League.[5][6]
As of 2024–25 Season, 17 teams (11 teams participated from First League, 3 teams relegated from Super League and 3 teams promoted from Second League in the end of 2023–24 season) compete for promoting to Super League.[14]
2024–25 season
The 2024–25 Turkish Women's First Football League consists of 17 teams.
Turkey
2013–14 Women's First League match Marmara Üniversitesispor (blue/black) vs Konak Belediyespor (red)
2014–15 Women's First League match Ataşehir Belediyespor (white/red) vs Adana İdmanyurduspor (red/blue)
2015–16 Women's First League match Kireçburnu Spor (green/yellow) vs 1207 Antalya Muratpaşa Belediye Spor (orange/black)
2016–17 Women's First League play-off match Beşiktaş J.K. (white) vs 1207 Antalya Döşemealtı Belediye Spor (navy/red/black)
2019–20 Women's First League match Kireçburnu Spor (white/yellow/green/black) vs Amed S.K. (green/red)
Cosmina Dușa
Mariem Houij
Reyhan Şeker
Sevgi Çınar
Merve Aladağ
Cosmina Dușa
Arzu Karabulut
Kader Hançar
Mariem Houij
Yağmur Uraz
Zelal Baturay
