Full name | Crystal Palace Football Club Women | |
---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Eagles | |
Founded | 1992 | |
Ground | VBS Community Stadium | |
Capacity | 5,013 | |
Chairman | Steve Parish | |
Manager | Laura Kaminski | |
League | Women's Super League | |
2023–24 | Women's Championship, 1st of 12 (promoted) | |
Crystal Palace Football Club Women is a women's association football club based in South London, England, which competes in the Women's Super League, the highest level of English women's football. The team, known as the "Eagles", is affiliated to the men's equivalent Crystal Palace F.C..
The club play its home matches at the VBS Community Stadium in Sutton, South London, as well as select matches at Selhurst Park. They previously played at Hayes Lane, the home ground of Bromley F.C., between 2014 and 2023.
The club was formed in 1992 as Crystal Palace Ladies F.C.. Since 2003, the club has risen up England's football pyramid, winning the South East Combination Women's Football League in 2003–04, and they later achieved their first cup success defeating Chelsea in the Surrey FA County Cup final in 2011. Palace won the London and South East Women's Regional Football League title in 2013–14, gaining promotion to the FA Women's National League regional section. They won the South East Division One title in 2015–16, after going the whole season undefeated. The club also won the Surrey FA County Cup that same season against AFC Wimbledon in the final.
In 2018, Palace were given semi-professional status, and secured a Tier 2 license, allowing them to become a founding member of the FA Women's Championship, the second highest tier in women’s football. [1] Then in 2019, it was announced by the club they would play under the name "Crystal Palace F.C." instead of "Crystal Palace Ladies F.C.", following the growing trend within the women's game at that time to move away from the term "Ladies". [2]
Following mixed results in their first three years in the Women's Championship, Palace recorded back-to-back top-five finishes in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons. [3] It was around this time that the club officially became part of the CPFC Limited group in June 2022, and they received full professional status in 2023, followed by the securing of a Tier 1 license in April 2024, which would allow their eventual entry into the Women's Super League (WSL). [4]
In the summer of 2023, the club appointed Grace Williams, [5] as Head of Women’s Football, and Laura Kaminski, [6] as Head Coach. This resulted in Palace gaining promotion to the Women's Super League as champions at the end of the 2023–24 Championship season. The club scored 55 goals – and conceded just 20 – in 22 matches. It also marked Palace’s inaugural promotion to the top-flight of women’s football. [7] The promotion was sealed with a final-day draw against Sunderland at Selhurst Park, in front of a record crowd of 6,796. [8]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Position | Name |
---|---|
Chairman | Steve Parish [11] |
Head of women's football | Grace Williams [5] |
Head Coach | Laura Kaminski [6] |
Assistant Coach | Adam Jeffrey [12] |
Goalkeeping Coach | Daniel Matraszek |
Physical Performance Coach | Chico Lyons |
Physiotherapist | Tadej Citti |
Crystal Palace Football Club is a professional football club based in Selhurst in the Borough of Croydon, South London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football.
The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions which was run by the English Football Association until 2014 when it changed to become an FA branded league run by an independent elected management committee. Originally founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League included England's top division from 1991 to 2010.
Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Kingston upon Thames, London. Founded in 1992, they compete in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England, and play their home games at the Kingsmeadow with some select games at Stamford Bridge. Since 2004, the club has been affiliated with Chelsea F.C., the men's team in the Premier League. Chelsea Women were a founding member of the Super League in 2010. From 2005 to 2010, the side competed in the Premier League National Division, the top tier of women's football in England at the time.
Bristol City Women's Football Club is a women's association football team from the city of Bristol. Formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C., they were renamed Bristol Academy W.F.C. in 2005 following the withdraw of support from Bristol Rovers and increased involvement and academy development from Bristol Academy of Sport, part of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College. A second change of name, this time to Bristol City was approved by the FA Women's Football Board in time for the 2016 WSL season. With their home games relocating from SGS College’s Stoke Gifford Stadium to the Robins High Performance Centre and now Ashton Gate Stadium. Bristol City Women won promotion to the FA Women's Super League (WSL), the highest level of the women's game in England in 2016 and stayed there for five seasons before being relegated to the FA Women's Championship in 2021.
Watford F.C. Women are an English women's football club affiliated to Watford F.C. The club compete in the FA Women's National League South, with their home games played at Grosvenor Vale.
Aston Villa Women Football Club is the women's football team of Aston Villa, currently playing in the Women's Super League. The club has been in existence since 1973. Originally titled Solihull F.C., the team affiliated to Aston Villa in 1989, becoming Villa Aztecs, and became the official Aston Villa women's side in 1996. The club have a senior team, a reserve team and several other teams of younger age groups under a Regional Talent Club FA license.
West Ham United Women Football Club is an English women's football club affiliated with West Ham United. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. They were formed in 1991 and play home games at Dagenham & Redbridge's Chigwell Construction Stadium on Victoria Road.
Emma Carol Hayes is an English professional football manager who is the head coach of the United States women's national team. She is best known for her twelve-year stint with Chelsea Women, winning the FA Women's Super League on seven occasions, including five in a row from the 2019–20 season to the 2023–24 season. On 10 August 2024, she steered the U.S. women’s national team to a gold medal in the Paris Olympics.
Leicester City Women Football Club is an English professional women's football club based in Leicester. Founded in 2004 as an independent club, Leicester City Women were acquired in 2020 by King Power, the parent company of men's affiliate Leicester City FC. They currently compete in the FA Women's Super League, the first level of the English football pyramid.
Ji So-yun is a South Korean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League and the South Korea national team.
Reading Football Club Women is an English women's football club affiliated with Reading FC. The club most recently played in the Women's Championship, the second tier of English women's football. Reading F.C. Women previously played in the FA Women's Premier League National Division after being promoted from the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division, which they were relegated to at the end of the 2011–12 season. They had previously won promotion to the National Division from the Southern Division in 2009–10. They gained entry to an expanded FA WSL in 2014.
Sheffield Football Club Ladies is an English women's football club affiliated with Sheffield F.C. The club won the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division in 2014–15 and the following promotion play-off and is the first club to earn promotion to the FA WSL 2.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Women, commonly referred to as Tottenham or Spurs, is an English women's football club affiliated with Tottenham Hotspur. The club currently plays in the Women's Super League (WSL), the top flight of women's football in England. The club gained promotion for the WSL after finishing second in the 2018–19 FA Women's Championship.
Durham Women Football Club is a women's football club based in Durham, Northern England. The team has competed in the FA Women's Championship, the second tier of Women's football in England, since 2014 having been awarded a licence in its inaugural season. They play their home games at Maiden Castle, part of Durham University.
Chloe Susan Arthur is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for Crystal Palace in the Women's Super League and the Scotland national team.
Manchester United Women Football Club is a professional football club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, that competes in the Women's Super League (WSL), the top tier of English women's football, after gaining promotion from the Championship at the end of the 2018–19 season.
The 2018–19 FA Women's Championship was the first rebranded edition of the FA Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England, renamed from the FA WSL 2 which was founded in 2014. The season ran from 8 September 2018 to 12 May 2019.
Rianna Dean is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Southampton in the FA Women's Championship.
The 2019–20 Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women season was the club's 35th season in existence but only their first as a professional team having been promoted to the FA Women's Super League, the highest level of the football pyramid, at the end of the 2018–19 season. Along with competing in the WSL, the club also contested two domestic cup competitions: the FA Cup and the League Cup.
The 2023–24 Women's Championship season was the sixth season of the rebranded Women's Championship, the second tier of women's football in England, and the ninth season since the creation of the WSL 2.