Few players in the Women’s Super League know Arsenal as intimately as Lia Walti. So when the new fixture list landed, one date will have leapt off the page for the Switzerland midfielder — a home opener against the club she helped turn into domestic and European champions.
Walti, a summer signing from Juventus, could make her Brighton debut against her former side when the Seagulls kick off the 2026/27 WSL season at home on Sunday, 6 September. The three-time champions visit Crawley’s Broadfield Stadium for a noon kick-off, setting up a mouth-watering start to Albion’s campaign.
Lia Walti’s Arsenal reunion
Walti spent years at the Emirates, helping the Gunners to both domestic and continental honours before her move to Italy and, this summer, a headline-grabbing switch to the south coast. Facing them first is the kind of script the fixture computer rarely writes so neatly. Arsenal remain one of the WSL’s genuine heavyweights, so the Albion could hardly have asked for a sterner opening examination — or a better occasion on which to unveil their new midfielder.
There will be a second reunion to come, too: the reverse meeting sends Brighton back to the Emirates on 10 January, giving Walti a return to her old home midway through the campaign. For now, though, it is the Broadfield date that carries the emotional charge.
Four dates at the Amex
There is plenty more for supporters to circle. Brighton have confirmed they will play at the Amex four times before the end of November: Aston Villa on 20 September, promoted Charlton Athletic on 4 October, West Ham United on 25 October and Liverpool on 15 November. It continues the club’s drive to stage more women’s football at the main stadium, and follows a busy summer of recruitment that included the signing of Sophie Peskett from Ipswich Town.
A bigger, tougher WSL
The division has been expanded to 14 teams this season, lengthening the schedule and widening the challenge. Albion begin their away programme at newly promoted Birmingham City on Sunday, 13 September — a reunion of its own, given the Blues are managed by former Albion head coach Amy Merricks, working under technical director Hope Powell. Trips to Arsenal and Chelsea will take Brighton to the Emirates and Stamford Bridge, according to The Argus, with September’s dates confirmed and later fixtures still subject to change for television coverage. A December double-header against Manchester United and Chelsea, and a January run that also takes in Spurs and Liverpool, means the schedule rarely relents once it gets going.
For now, though, all eyes are on 6 September. Lia Walti will hope to make an immediate impression on her Brighton bow — and there would be no sweeter way to begin life on the south coast than against the club that knows her best. A noon kick-off should pull a strong crowd to Crawley, and a positive result against the champions would set an early marker for Brighton’s season.
