It has been currently running on a semi-professional basis, but talks about professionalisation have been emerging, beginning with the name change and placing of all women's clubs into one single Australian Professional Leagues operation and management in 2021, which served as the precursors for complete transition to professionalism of the A-League Women.

After Australia qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, head coach Tom Sermanni felt the establishment of a professional league was vital for continuing the development of players.

[8] The W-League was initially composed of eight teams: Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Melbourne Victory, Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory, and Sydney FC.

[9] The W-League's inaugural season commenced on 25 October 2008, with Perth hosting Sydney at Members Equity Stadium.

[12] Future expansion is planned for the 2025–26 season, after the award of a licence for an Auckland-based team for both A-League Men and Women.

[27] On 12 December 2022, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced that the grand finals for the 2022–23 and two subsequent seasons would be hosted in Sydney,[28] a move which received considerable backlash.

It was founded in 2012 after former Australian rules footballer Jason Ball came out publicly as gay, and his club in Yarra Glen, Victoria showed their support by staging a "Pride Cup".

[33] On 24–26 February 2023, both the A-League Men and Women's competitions staged their first-ever Pride Round, the first occasion in which the leagues had "come together to recognise and promote inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ community".

[33] In 2024, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) announced the continuation of the round, as well as providing inclusion training to all players and key stakeholders.

The annual Pride Cup double-header between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory would take place in March, and several men's and women's teams would celebrate by engaging community groups and using indicators such as rainbow corner flags, armbands, special Pride kit and/or rainbow socks.

The round is currently in partnership with Destination NSW, and was introduced after the Grand Final decision was reversed in October 2023.

[43] The deal also included improved standards in training venues, travel and accommodation, high performance staffing, and player workloads.

After the success of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand, there were renewed calls to make the competition a full-time one.

[49] Since September 2024, the league is known as Ninja A-League Women with home appliances company SharkNinja as the current naming rights sponsor.

All matches were broadcast or streamed on Fox Sports, SBS Viceland and the My Football Live app.

Thursday Night Football was also introduced, meaning 13 stand-alone regular season matches will be played in prime-time and broadcast live on Fox Sports.

[51] The Football Federation Australia (FFA) reached a deal with ESPN+ for broadcast rights to W-League games in the United States.

[56] Since August 2021, as part of a five-year deal with ViacomCBS, the A-Leagues have been broadcast by Network 10 and Paramount+ (Australia) streaming service.