The 2018–19 season was Manchester United Women's inaugural season following the club's successful application to join the newly-formed

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

after a league restructuring. The club also competed in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. The team played their home games at

Leigh Sports Village Leigh Sports Village is an £83 million multi-use sports,
retail and hou ...

, while the training ground at

The Cliff A cliff is a vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliff, The Cliff or The Cliffs may also refer to: Buildings *Cliff Brewery, a former brewery near Ipswich, England *Cliff Palace, largest cliff dwelling in North America *The Cliffs, a histo ...

undergoes redevelopment.

Pre-season

In March 2018,

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

announced their intentions to enter a women's team into the second tier of the 2018–19 season. Their application was confirmed in May and they were announced as one of four new teams to enter the division alongside

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

and

Lewes F.C. Lewes Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Lewes, East Sussex, England. The men's first team are currently members of the and play at the Dripping Pan. History The club was established in a meeting at the Royal Oak pub ...

On 8 June 2018, former

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

international

Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national football te ...

was announced as head coach. The full 21-player squad was revealed in July and included the return of

Katie Zelem Katie Leigh Zelem (born 20 January 1996) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Manchester United W.F.C., Manchester United, which she also Captain (association footba ...

Emily Ramsey Emily Jo Ramsey (born 16 November 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Everton of the Women's Super League, on loan from Manchester United. Club career Youth career Ramsey was born in Salford and played yout ...

Naomi Hartley Naomi Hartley (born 12 January 2001) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Sheffield United in the FA Women's Championship. Hartley previously played for Manchester United and Coventry United, and spent time in the youth ranks o ...

Fran Bentley Francesca Bentley (born 26 June 2001) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bristol City of the Women's Championship. She has previously played in the youth ranks at Manchester City, Manchester United on loan at Sheffield Unite ...

Millie Turner Millie Turner (born 7 July 1996) is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Women's Super League club Manchester United. She has previously played for Everton and Bristol City, and has been capped by England at youth level. Club ...

Kirsty Hanson Kirsty Hanson (born 17 April 1998) is a footballer who plays as a forward for English Women's Super League club Aston Villa, on loan from Manchester United, and the Scotland national team. Hanson began her career in the youth ranks of Manches ...

and

Ella Toone Ella Ann Toone (born 2 September 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Manchester United and England. Toone has previously played for Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers, and has re ...

who were all previously part of the club's Girls' Regional Talent Club and Centre of Excellence. United's first game was a behind-closed-doors friendly against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

on 15 July. The game had to be abandoned after goalkeeper

Siobhan Chamberlain Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for Liverpool. Before joining Li ...

was taken to hospital with a suspected serious neck injury which was later confirmed not as serious as first thought.

FA Women's Championship

Matches

On 1 August 2018, the

announced the fixtures for the 2018–19 season. The team confirmed promotion to the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

on 17 April 2019 after victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

with three games to spare. Three days later, they clinched the Championship title with a win at home to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

League table

Women's FA Cup

Manchester United entered the Women's FA Cup in the fourth round with the rest of the top two tiers and were drawn against WSL side Brighton & Hove Albion. Lauren James' brace earned United a 2–0 win to put them in the draw for the fifth round. They were drawn against fellow

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

London Bees London Bees is an English women's football club affiliated with Barnet F.C. They play in the FA Women's National League South. The club has been in existence under several names since 1975, originally being called District Line Ladies F.C.. Th ...

who United had already scored 14 goals against across their two league meetings. United progressed to the quarter-finals with a 3–0 win, held at back-up venue

Ewen Fields Ewen Fields in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, is the home ground of Hyde United F.C. and has also hosted Manchester City Reserves, Manchester United F.C. Reserves, Stockport County Reserves and Oldham Curzon Ladies. The stadium holds 4,250 ...

, and were drawn against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

to set up the second cup meeting between the two teams after Reading triumphed in the WSL Cup Group Stage earlier in the season. The WSL side triumphed for a second time, taking United to extra-time after a goalless 90 minutes before eventually winning 3–2 with Rakel Hönnudóttir's late winner coming in the 120+2 minute.

FA Women's League Cup

Group stage

Manchester United were entered into Group Two North for the 2018–19 FA WSL Cup alongside WSL sides Liverpool, Everton and Reading and fellow

side Durham. They played two games at home and two away, winning three including both away ties to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

teams.

Knockout phase

The draw for the quarter-final was made on 18 December, with Manchester United the only team from outside of the

to qualify from the group stage. They were drawn against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

who had finished second in Group Two South behind defending champions

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. After beating West Ham 2–0, United progressed to the semi-finals and were drawn against Arsenal. The tie was televised nationally on

BT Sport BT Sport is a group of broadcasting of sports events, pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, Warner Bros. Dis ...

won 2–1 to progress to their seventh final in eight years.

Squad statistics

:Numbers in brackets denote appearances as substitute. :Key to positions: GK –

Goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

; DF – Defender; MF –

Midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

; FW –

Forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Pre-season

FA Women's Championship

Matches

League table

Women's FA Cup

FA Women's League Cup

Group stage

Knockout phase

Squad statistics

Transfers

In

Loans out

References

External links