Netball Super League
The Netball Super League explained: England and Wales's top netball league, its 2025 relaunch, eight teams, rule variations and every champion since 2006.
The Netball Super League (NSL) is the top level of domestic club netball in England and Wales, organised by England Netball. It is the main pathway for players between school, college and club netball and selection for England's national team, the Roses.
How it started
The league's first season was 2005–06, replacing the earlier Super Cup as England's elite club competition. The eight founder members were Brunel Hurricanes, Celtic Dragons, Galleria Mavericks, Leeds Carnegie, Loughborough Lightning, Northern Thunder, Team Bath and Team Northumbria. The number of teams changed several times over the following years.
The 2025 relaunch
In 2023 England Netball announced that the league would relaunch in 2025 as part of a move towards greater professionalisation. For the relaunch:
- the league was reset at eight teams;
- Birmingham Panthers and Nottingham Forest joined as new clubs;
- Surrey Storm, Team Bath, Severn Stars and Strathclyde Sirens played their last Super League season in 2024;
- a feeder competition, NXT Gen, was introduced, mainly for players under 23.
The teams
| Team | Base |
|---|---|
| Birmingham Panthers | Birmingham |
| Cardiff Dragons | Cardiff and Liverpool |
| Leeds Rhinos | Leeds |
| London Mavericks | London (Hatfield) |
| London Pulse | London (Stratford) |
| Loughborough Lightning | Loughborough |
| Manchester Thunder | Manchester |
| Nottingham Forest Netball | Nottingham |
Rule variations
Alongside the relaunch, the NSL introduced several variations on standard netball rules from 2025:
- Super shots: in the final five minutes of each quarter, shots from a set area of the circle are worth two goals — similar to Super Netball's Super Shot.
- No draws: level games after 60 minutes go to 10 minutes of extra time.
- Tactical timeouts: each team can call one 90-second timeout per game.
- Bonus point: a losing team within five goals of the winner earns a league point.
Champions
| Season | Champions |
|---|---|
| 2005–06 | Team Bath |
| 2006–07 | Team Bath |
| 2007–08 | Galleria Mavericks |
| 2008–09 | Team Bath |
| 2009–10 | Team Bath |
| 2011 | Hertfordshire Mavericks |
| 2012 | Northern Thunder |
| 2013 | Team Bath |
| 2014 | Manchester Thunder |
| 2015 | Surrey Storm |
| 2016 | Surrey Storm |
| 2017 | Wasps |
| 2018 | Wasps |
| 2019 | Manchester Thunder |
| 2020 | Not awarded (season suspended due to COVID-19) |
| 2021 | Loughborough Lightning |
| 2022 | Manchester Thunder |
| 2023 | Loughborough Lightning |
| 2024 | Loughborough Lightning |
| 2025 | London Pulse |
| 2026 | Manchester Thunder |
Team Bath and Manchester Thunder (who played as Northern Thunder until 2012) share the record with five titles each.
Where this page stops
This page covers the league's durable format and history, not current-season fixtures, standings or results — check the official Netball Super League site for that.
Sources
All information on this page is given to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing (October 2026), after referring to the sources below — official sources wherever they exist, and the named secondary source where we couldn't find an official record.
- Netball Super League — the official league site.
- England Netball — the league's organiser.
- Champions and relaunch details cross-checked against Netball Super League on Wikipedia.
Related reading
See Suncorp Super Netball and ANZ Premiership for the equivalent top domestic leagues in Australia and New Zealand.