Fulham FC Women, previously known as Fulham LFC, WFC Fulham and Fulham FC Foundation Ladies, is a women's football club based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. The team were dissolved as of 16 May 2006, but were later re-established with independence from

Fulham F.C. Fulham Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whilst Craven Cottage unde ...

The club dissolved for a second time in June 2010 when sponsors pulled out following a second successive relegation. The club reformed again in 2014. Fulham became the first Ladies' football team in Europe to turn full-time professional in April 2000. However, club chairman

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...

reverted the club to semi-professional status three years later. However, the club reformed in 2014.

History

Fulham L.F.C. were seen as the successor club to Friends of Fulham, winners of the

FA Women's 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 ...

in 1985 and twice runners-up in 1989 and 1990. After they moved to become what is now

AFC Wimbledon Ladies AFC Wimbledon Women are a women's football team from London. The team currently competes in the . The club was founded after the ladies team representing Wimbledon F.C. decided to transfer to AFC Wimbledon, after the old club's relocation. Th ...

re-established a women's team, with women's football becoming very popular by the early 1990s. Fulham L.F.C.'s debut came in 1993 in the Greater London Division, and they eventually reached the

FA Women's National Premier League The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991 until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. Durin ...

, via the Greater London Premier Division, the South East Combination League and the

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

, mirroring the progress of the men's professional club. After becoming professional themselves in 2000, a huge investment paid dividends in their first season, 2000–01, as they reached the

final and won the

South East Combination Women's Football League The South East Combination Women's Football League, also known simply as the South East 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 ...

by a comfortable margin. Star players like

Rachel Yankey Rachel Aba Yankey, OBE (born 1 November 1979) is an English former footballer who played for the England national team. She played as a left winger or forward. She left Arsenal after 13 years in December 2016 at the end of her contract. She is ...

and

Katie Chapman Katie Sarah Chapman (born 15 June 1982) is an English former footballer who last played for English FA WSL club Chelsea Ladies and was a member of the England women's national team. She primarily played as a central midfielder, although she wa ...

were supplemented by high-profile overseas imports like

Marianne Pettersen Marianne Iren Pettersen (born 12 April 1975 in Oslo) is a Norway, Norwegian Association football, footballer. She was a forward for the club Asker Fotball, Asker, whom she joined from Gjelleråsen IF, Gjelleråsen after the Norwegian Premi ...

. In the 2001–02 season, they won the

, the London County Cup, the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

and the

, scoring 342 goals and conceding just 15. Fulham won the treble of

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 ...

and

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 ...

in 2002–03, scoring 68 goals and conceding just 13. In 2003–04 they were the only English team to compete in the

UEFA Women's Cup The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

, and they came second in the Premier League National Division, despite reverting to semi-pro status at the end of the previous season. During the 2005–06 season, having lost most of their professional squad, they struggled in the league and finished eighth. On 16 May 2006,

Fulham FC Fulham Football Club is an English professional association football, football club based in Fulham, London, which compete in the . They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spent at Loftus Road whil ...

announced that they were withdrawing the team from the Women's Premier League and discontinuing the team altogether. The decision to dissolve the team was made on financial grounds, with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

officially laying the blame on a poor media coverage and poor league attendance.

did announce plans to continue its Girls Development Centre, but clearly stated they would not be fielding any further league teams in the foreseeable future. Following the withdrawal of the funding of the Ladies,

let club officers, parents and players take over in order that the team could continue playing at the highest level of women's football – the

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

. A similar fate befell several other ladies' teams at around the same time. As there was no remaining connection with

, it was decided to alter the club's name to Fulham WFC and then WFC Fulham, in order to make this separation clear. The new committee was presented with a number of difficult problems to solve. Season 2006–2007 saw the club survive, albeit with the relegation of the first team from the Premier League National Division, but with the bonus of a County Cup final appearance. The team bounced straight back by winning the Premier League Southern Division in 2007–08, thanks largely to the goals of

Ann-Marie Heatherson Ann-Marie "Annie" Heatherson (born 27 March 1984) is an English former footballer who most recently played as a forward and captain for Yeovil Town of the FA Women's National League. She began her career with Charlton Athletic and played for ri ...

. In 2008–09, WFC Fulham finished 12th and were relegated from the National Division. Another relegation into the Combination League followed in 2009–10 and the club folded due to the withdrawal of their sponsors. A new official Fulham ladies team restarted in 2014. In 2014, the club reformed once more, as Fulham FC Foundation Ladies and entered the London & South East Regional Women's League. The club has remained in that division since, officially becoming re-incorporated into Fulham FC and rebranding as Fulham FC Women in 2018.

Players

Current squad

Former players

''For details of all former players, see :Fulham L.F.C. players.''

Honours

''For a detailed international record, see English women's football clubs in international competitions'' *

FA Women's Premier League National Division The FA Women's Premier League National Division (originally WFA National League Premier Division) was a football division in England. From 1991 until 2010, the National Division functioned as the top league in English women's football. Durin ...

** Champions: 2002–03 *

** Champions: 2001–02, 2007–08 *

** Winners:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

(as ''Friends of Fulham''),

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

*** Runners-up:

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

(as ''Friends of Fulham''),

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

** Winners:

***Runners-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

* London County Cup ** Winners: 2002–03

References

{{Fulham F.C.

Ladies The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...