Cliftonville Ladies F.C.

Cliftonville Ladies Football Club is a women's association football club from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club is the women's team of Cliftonville, and plays in the Women's Premiership, the top tier women's football league of Irish League.

Cliftonville have won their first Irish League Women's Premiership title in 2022, and made their debut in the UEFA Women's Champions League in the 2023–24 season.

History

Background

On June 18, 1895, Cliftonville's home ground, Solitude, hosted a match between two sides formed by British Ladies' Football Club players, a game that has since been recognized as the first women’s association football match to take place in Ireland; four days later, on June 22, the British Ladies' played their second match in Belfast, taking on a local male selection. Both games were considered a success, and were credited to have helped future developments of women's football both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

2003–2022: From Cliftonville Girls to Cliftonville Ladies

Cliftonville Ladies initially played as Cliftonville Girls in the regional Greater Belfast League, before joining the Women's Premier League, the top tier of Northern Irish women's football, in 2004. Following their rebranding as Cliftonville Ladies, the club became founding members of the Women's Premiership in 2016, as a result of the Northern Ireland Football League's decision to take over the running of the WPL.

In August 2019, Cliftonville player Billie Simpson was nominated for the 2019 FIFA Puskás Award for a goal she scored in a league match against Sion Swifts: in the process, she became the second Northern Irish player to ever receive a nomination for the prize, following Matty Burrows in 2011, and the third all-Ireland player to do so, if Stephanie Roche is included in the count.

In June 2022, six Cliftonville players, including national team captain Marissa Callaghan, were called-up to the 23-women Northern Irish senior squad that took part in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022.

2022–: First national title and professional status

On October 26 of the same year, the club won their first ever national title, having won 15 of their 16 league matches throughout the season, under head coach John McGrady. As a result, they qualified for the UEFA Women's Champions League for the first time in their history.

On March 1, 2023, Cliftonville became the first women's football team in the Irish League to announce professional contracts for their players since their introduction in December 2022, having officially tied down twelve footballers. However, they did not become the first club to register a professional player in Northern Ireland women's football, with Sion Swifts Ladies' Siobhan Higgins being the first player on a full-time contract to be registered on the Irish FA’s Comet system, instead.

In June 2023, Cliftonville were one of the five football teams from the Irish League that took part in the inaugural edition of the All-Island Cup, where they reached the final, before finishing as runners-up following a defeat to Galway United. During the same campaign, the club won their first Women’s County Antrim Cup in eight years, while also lifting the Women’s Premiership League Cup.

In September 2023, Cliftonville made their debut in the UEFA Women's Champions League against Benfica in the first qualifying round. On 6 September, they suffered an 8–1 away defeat to the Portuguese side: however, Caitlin McGuinness scored the club's first goal ever in a European competition in the process.

Players

Current squad

European record

UEFA Women's Champions League

* 2023–24: ''TBD''

Honours

Senior

* Women's Premiership
:Winners (1): 2022
: Runners-up (2): 2016, 2021
* IFA Women's Challenge Cup
:Winners (1): 2015
*NIFL Women's Premiership League Cup
:Winners (2): 2023, 2024
*Women’s County Antrim Cup
:Winners (2): 2015, 2023
* All-Island Cup
:Runners-up (1): 2023

Youth sector

The youth sector of Cliftonville Ladies includes several ranks, with teams competing at under-9, under-11, under-13, under-15, under-17 and under-19 level. The club's under-19 team, Cliftonville Corinthians, plays in the Electric Ireland Women's Academy League, formed and hosted by the Northern Ireland Football League, since its foundation in 2019.

See also

* Cliftonville F.C.

References

External links

Official websiteCliftonville Ladies
on Soccerway
Cliftonville Ladies
at Northern Ireland Football League
Squad profile
at ''UEFA.com''

{{Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland)
Women's association football clubs in Northern Ireland
Association football clubs in Belfast
Women's Premiership (Northern Ireland) teams
Cliftonville F.C.