Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') are an English women's football club based in

Manchester 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 Salford to the west. The t ...

who play in the

FA Women's Super League 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 ...

. They are affiliated with

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club are an England, English association football, football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English football. Fo ...

who play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

History

National League

1988–1996: Early struggles

Manchester City Ladies was formed in November 1988, the brainchild of

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

Community Officer Neil Mather - who would become the side's first manager - plus several others involved in the club's community scheme. Their first match was a friendly against

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

artificial pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

, which City won by a score of 4–1. Able to play only friendlies in their first season due to the late formation of the club, they joined the

North West Women's Regional Football League The North West Women's Regional Football League (NWWRFL) is one of the eight English regional leagues comprising the fifth and sixth tiers of the Women's football in England, English women's football pyramid. The other seven leagues are the Nort ...

the following year. In the hopes of increasing publicity for women's football, the club's men's first team defender

Colin Hendry Edward Colin James Hendry (born 7 December 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. Hendry, who played as a defender notably played in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers where he was part of the title winning ...

was appointed Club President in March 1990 at the same time that the club was achieving plaudits for being one of the first league clubs in north-west England to create an affiliated women's side. Manchester City Ladies initially struggled with the strength of the opposition in their first league fixtures, having been immediately placed in the second division of four due to the strength of the club's name alone, but managed to improve results enough to finish mid-table. In their second season they improved further and consequently achieved their first promotion. Although the club established themselves in the top division of the North West Women's Regional Football League, a lack of financial independence meant that the club's fortunes were tied to the men's side, resulting in a first relegation in 1996–97, the season after the men's team themselves were relegated from the

. The club's support for their ladies' team was reduced, poor conditions at Platt Lane caused a series of fixture postponements and a shortage of players resulted in discussions on whether to merge the ladies team into Stockport County Ladies.

1997–2013: Growing strength

Manchester City's relegation coincided with the reorganisation of the club spearheaded by Derek Heath, a Stockport County Ladies coach who had transferred to the Manchester club owing to Stockport County Ladies' reluctance to affiliate with the male side of the same name. Heath brought in a raft of new players - many directly from Stockport - and created the first ever junior side when he arranged for Manchester City to adopt the Stockport under-14 team which his former club were no longer in a position to support. Although Heath was to die after a brief battle with cancer barely a year after joining the club, Manchester City went unbeaten in the league throughout the 1997–98 season to win the second division title at the first time of asking - their first official silverware. Promotion in 1998 would start a period of success for Manchester City. After narrowly missing out on a second promotion in 1999, they won the Premier Division in 1999–2000 and beat

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in the promotion play-off to lift themselves above the North West Regional Football League for the first time. The following season they won the Northern Combination and joined the WFA National League (renamed the ''Women's Premier League'' in 1992) Northern Division. The step up to the WPL proved to be a large one, however, and the club narrowly avoided relegation on several occasions, never finishing outside of the bottom half for the first seven seasons. Only the appointment of Leigh Wood to the managerial position in 2007 was able to change the club from relegation battlers to title hopefuls.

Women's Super League

2014–2015: Professionalism and early success

The English women's football pyramid was shaken up again in 2010, when the

was created as a new top-tier competition to sit over the top of the Women's Premier League. The FA announced that entry would be based on application rather than promotion, and that all members of the WPL National Division plus the top two finishers in the two regional leagues would be eligible to apply. Manchester City would miss out on the opportunity, instead finishing fourth, but would seize their next opportunity to join the WSL some three seasons later when it was expanded into an 18-team, two-tiered league system - by which time the club had won the Northern Division and were contesting the National Division. To some surprise and controversy on 26 April City Ladies were announced to have been given direct entry to the first division of the enlarged competition, at the expense of established team

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

who were downgraded to the second division and were the only team to lose their top division status. In anticipation of their first WSL season the club began a complete renovation of the playing squad, signing a number of England internationals and promising players, including the likes of

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 ...

goalkeeper

Karen Bardsley Karen Louise Bardsley (born 14 October 1984) is a US-born English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. She played for Sky Blue FC in the previous top-flight American Women's Professional Soccer league, Linköpings FC in the Swedish Dama ...

, 74-times capped midfielder Jill Scott and new club captain

Steph Houghton Stephanie Jayne Darby (, , born 23 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the England women's national team. At club level, Houghton started at Sunderland in her native Nor ...

, intending to make an impression on the league from the start. On 23 January 2014, the club was relaunched with a minor renaming to Manchester City Women's Football Club, ready for the new season. Nick Cushing was appointed first team manager, with Leigh Wood moving to first team head coach. Their first season of the professional football would see Manchester City finish fifth of eight teams, at the same time winning their first ever major trophy when they defeated

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 ...

in the 2014 FA WSL Cup Final. The following season would start poorly, but City Women returned from the summer break for the Women's World Cup a different side, with

's third-place finish seemingly rejuvenating both players and fans. Recording twelve wins in their remaining thirteen league games the club entered a title challenge which they only lost on the final day of the season. Although it brought them no silverware, their runners-up position was enough to secure them

European football UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur assoc ...

for the first time in their history. As they embarked on their late-season surge, City also broke the league attendance record not once but twice.

2016–2020: Domestic dominance and Big Three

The following seasons would see Manchester City become one of the dominant sides of English women's football, winning the league in 2016 and claiming two

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

and two further WSL Cups by the end of the decade.

2020–present: Injury crises, exodus and Big Four

Nick Cushing left his role as manager to become assistant coach to

Ronny Deila Ronny Deila (born 21 September 1975) is a Norwegian football manager and former player, who is the manager of Standard Liège. He spent most of his playing career at Odd before becoming head coach at Strømsgodset, winning the Norwegian Cup in ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned ...

, with his last match being against

on 2 February 2020.

Gareth Taylor Gareth Keith Taylor (born 25 February 1973) is a football manager and former player who is the head coach of Manchester City Women. He began his career as a defender at Bristol Rovers, having left the Southampton youth team in 1991. After loan ...

took over as manager, having a good start in his first year with the squad. The side saw various injuries to many of its first-team players from 2021 and into the 2021–22 season, struggling at times domestically and particularly in Europe. It has been compared to the 2015 injury crisis that saw City under Cushing spring a late comeback and then dominate in 2016. Over the summer of 2022, Manchester City saw nine of its high-profile and established players leave: Bardsley, Scott, and Ellen White through retirement;

Janine Beckie Janine Elizabeth Beckie (born August 20, 1994) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns FC and the Canada national team. She previously played for Sky Blue FC, the Houston Das ...

to Portland Thorns; Karima Benameur Taieb to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

;

Lucy Bronze Lucia Roberta Tough Bronze (born 28 October 1991), known as Lucy Bronze, is a professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Barcelona and the England national team. She has previously played for Sunderland, Everton, Liverpool, Lyon a ...

and

Keira Walsh Keira Fae Walsh (born 8 April 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club FC Barcelona Femení, Barcelona and the England women's national football team, England women's national team. She is considered ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

;

Caroline Weir Caroline Elspeth Lillias Weir (born 20 June 1995) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or forward for Spanish Primera División club Real Madrid CF and the Scotland women's national team. Club career E ...

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

; and

Georgia Stanway Georgia Marie Stanway (born 3 January 1999) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Frauen-Bundesliga club FC Bayern Munich (women), Bayern Munich and the England women's national foot ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. Described as an exodus from the club, sports journalists questioned if the draw of European football was the only factor in big name departures, as well as debating the resilience of a club with so many new faces arriving at once and the "entire, world class starting midfield three" leaving. The last to leave was Walsh, for a world-record transfer fee on 7 September; her departure from Manchester City (after the retirements of Bardsley and Scott) meant that Houghton was the last remaining 2014 season player at the club. Sources close to the club cited by ''

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

'' felt that reasons for most of the departures were not individually concerning, besides that "last season's results were below what the club expected, and some players were not happy with the feedback received from the backroom staff". Additionally, the high number of departures at once and the club's seeming lack of sufficient recruitment to cover the calibre of these players were seen as potential matters of concern, with fans decrying the management on social media. '' The Sportsman'' also worried that losing so many starting players would make the club's evolution under Taylor less visible and effective. After a rough start to the 2022–23 season, including a first-ever loss to

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 ...

in their first league match, Manchester City re-found their footing and took enough wins to end 2022 fourth in the league, unable to defeat any of the other "Big Four" (the Big Three and newly-improved rivals

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 ...

) teams but holding strong to retain a position among the title contenders, with the new signings said to have gelled surprisingly quickly. Despite the regained form, following Manchester City defeating

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 ...

by the usual wide margin in October 2022,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

felt that the team had "a certain sparkle lacking from their football, and the unquenchable ''je ne sais quoi'' the top teams manage to cultivate through their star-studded teams remained absent", again asking if Taylor would be able to bring the team silverware.

Stadium

Since the opening of

Academy Stadium Academy Stadium is a football stadium in Manchester, England, forming part of the Etihad Campus. Announced on 19 September 2011 as part of an 80-acre training facility to cater for around 400 youth players at a time, the campus was opened on 8 De ...

directly across the Ashton New Road and Alan Turing Way from the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

, Manchester City Women have been based at the training complex's 7,000 capacity stadium in tandem with the men's academy's senior side. The stadium has on three occasions since the middle of 2015 set an attendance record for a

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 ...

league game. Prior to moving into Academy Stadium, the women's side were based in the Manchester Regional Athletics Arena.

Affiliation With Manchester City F.C.

Throughout their history, MCWFC have had an affiliation with Manchester City, being established within its corporate structure in 1988. Replica kits of the men's team were still worn and the team was financially supported by the professional side, yet organisationally it managed itself for much of its existence. Established as part of City in the Community in 1988 with its development during the 1990s and beyond relying on the dedication of a number of Manchester City Ladies officials, individuals and volunteers. Following an announcement on 28 August 2012, Manchester City Ladies' position as an official part of the club became formalised under a new agreement. Consequently, the women's side shares not only corporate links and resources with the male team but also their training facilities, as well as being included in the marketing and social media of the

side.

Honours

Leagues

(Level 1) ** Winners (1):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

** Runners-up (6):

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

FA Women's National League North The FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division is a league at the third-level in the women's football league pyramid in England, along with the Southern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and bel ...

(Level 3) ** Winners (1): 2011–12 *

Northern Combination Women's Football League The Northern Combination Women's Football League, also known simply as the Northern Combination, was a women's football league in England from 1998 to 2014. Until the creation of the FA Women's Super League in 2011, they sat at the third level of ...

(Level 3) ** Winners (1): 2000–01 * North West Women's Regional Football League Premier Division (Level 4) ** Winners (1): 1999–2000 ** Runners-up (1): 1998–99 * North West Women's Regional Football League Division Two (Level 4) ** Winners (1): 1997–98

Cups

** Winners (3): 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20 ** Runners-up (1): 2021–22 *

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

** Winners (4):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2018–19, 2021–22 ** Runners-up (1): 2017–18 * North West Challenge Trophy ** Winners (1): 1999–2000 * North West League Cup ** Winners (1): 1999–2000