Rangers Women's Football Club is a women's football team that plays in the Scottish Women's Premier League, the top division of women's football in Scotland. The team is the female branch of Rangers.

History

Paisley City Ladies, formerly Arthurlie Ladies, was founded at the start of the 1999–2000 season. As a new club they started in the third (lowest) tier. In 2001–02 they played in Division One, directly under the Premier League, and stayed there until 2008. In the 2007–08 season they suffered financial problems, and began to search for a partnership with another club. Rangers L.F.C. was founded in 2008, as Rangers followed the example of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, Hibernian and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in developing a women's section. The formation of the team involved a partnership with Paisley City Ladies. Former Rangers youth academy coach Drew Todd was brought in to coach the team.

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

player Jayne Sommerville was signed as the new team's first

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

.The Story Of Women's Football In Scotland
Rangers FC on YouTube, 21 August 2023 They took the league place of Paisley City and many players switched too. Rangers won the league in their debut season. They also reached the final of the Scottish Women's Cup but lost 5–0 to Glasgow City; they were the first side playing in a lower division to reach the final. Former East Stirlingshire footballer Scott Allison was appointed manager in 2010. The club reached the Cup final again but were beaten 2–1 by Hibernian. In May 2011, Alana Marshall became the first female Rangers player to be called up by the senior Scotland team. In February 2012, '' The Herald'' newspaper reported that the financial crisis engulfing Rangers also threatened the existence of the club's women's section. The team continued to operate under budgetary constraints, and having appointed Angie Hind as coach (who was able to add quality to the squad using her extensive network of contacts in the women's game) they ended the 2014 SWPL season with a second place finish, the club's best result up to that point. Ahead of the 2018 season, the official name of the team was changed to 'Rangers Women' from the previous 'Rangers Ladies'. In July 2019, the club announced a significant commitment to women's football by integrating their teams more fully into its operations and providing further financial support with the aim of becoming professional. To this end, the incumbent coach Amy McDonald was installed in a new position as ''Women's Manager'', with former player and youth trainer Grégory Vignal appointed as head coach of the senior team. A few months later the team moved their home fixtures to the Rangers Training Centre in

Milngavie Milngavie ( ; ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngavie is a commuter t ...

following improvements made to its facilities, having previously been using New Tinto Park (home of Benburb F.C.) in the

Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric: ''Gwovan''; Scots language, Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of southwest Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the sout ...

area of Glasgow, near to the club's

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Scottish Premiership team Rangers, Ibrox is the third-largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated ca ...

. In January 2020 Malky Thomson was appointed joint first-team coach alongside Vignal, in June of the same year Vignal left the club Thomson was named head of the women's first team. In 2022, an arrangement was reached to play home fixtures at Broadwood Stadium in

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; ) is a large town in the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, most-populous locality in Scotl ...

, due to capacity and parking issues at the training venue.Rangers: SWPL1 champions to host games at Broadwood Stadium
BBC Sport, 2 August 2022

Current squad

Out on loan

Former players

Lisa Swanson, Lesley McMaster, Natalie Lowe, Jayne Sommerville..

Coaching staff

Season-by-season records

European history

^f First leg.

Honours

* Scottish Women's Premier League: 2021–22 **''Runners-up:''

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, 2023–24 * Scottish Women's First Division: 2008–09 * Scottish Women’s Cup: 2023–24 **''Runners-up:'' 2008–09,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, 2022–23 * Scottish Women's Premier League Cup: 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25 * City of Glasgow Women's Cup: 2022 2023

References

External links

Fixture list on Rangers website

Soccerway
{{Football in Glasgow Women's football clubs in Scotland Ladies 2008 establishments in Scotland Govan Football clubs in Glasgow Scottish Women's Premier League clubs Association football clubs established in 2008