London City Lionesses: The Journey to the WSL

Image: Isobel Goodwin and Chaney Boye-Hlorkah celebrating promotion Credit Aimee Reynolds for Constancy Sport

Fifteen months ago, London City Lionesses sat 10th in the Barclays Women’s Championship, without a manager, fighting for survival. Today, they’re champions of the Championship (now known as the WSL 2) after a dramatic match against Birmingham City.

But you might be wondering, how did they get there?

After the club takeover from Michele Kang in December 2023, the club made their ambitions clear in the summer of 2024, hiring former PSG manager, Jocelyn Precheur as head coach, signing Kosovare Asllani from AC Milan and purchasing the clubs formerly rented training facilities in Aylesford, Kent. Along with this came the move of stadiums from Princes Park in Dartford to Hayes Lane in Bromley.

With the departures of nine players at the conclusion of the 2023/24 season came an influx of new signings. This included the loanee signings of Arsenal academy graduate, Teyah Goldie and Chelsea academy graduate, Cerys Brown (now permanent) as well as two other England youth internationals, Emily Orman and Izzy Goodwin, all of which played a crucial role in this season's campaign.

The club also signed world cup winner Maria Perez, Sweden international Sofia Jakobsson as well as Shen Mengu, Charlene Meyong, Shen Mengu, Miljana Ivanovic and Julia Roddar, all of which bring a wealth of experience to the squad.

Barclays Women's Championship campaign:

The season began on September 8th at Hayes Lane against the newly promoted Newcastle United. Here we saw five London City Lionesses debutants in the starting XI and the beginning of a new era for the blues. A 1-1 draw thanks to a goal from Kosovare Asllani meant the season was well underway.

From here the team won five of their following six matches, their only loss being against Sunderland despite a stellar penalty save from Emily Orman in the second half. Following this, they had a further two losses in mid November a 2-1 and 3-2 defeat against Birmingham City and Durham respectively but from then on went unbeaten in the league for the rest of the season.

At the season's closure, Emily Orman was awarded the golden glove For the most clean sheets in a season, here she amassed 7 clean sheets across 18 games. Izzy Goodwin also secured the golden boot after scoring 16 goals in the league this season, including a hattrick against Southampton in April and a haul of goals against Portsmouth in October.

Key players:

Isobel Goodwin- With 16 goals, Izzy found herself earning the golden boot at the end of the season. Despite signing for the club the day before the season began, the forward had an outstanding first season with the club.

Emily Orman- having began her career with Chelsea FC, the goalkeeper brought a wealth of experience to the club despite never making an appearance for the current treble winning side. She played the majority of games for London City this season, winning the golden glove in the league

Kosovare Asllani-Being the clubs first signing of the summer, the Sweden captain was bound to play a crucial within the squad, and that she was, having herself named as the staffs player of the season this year.

They will now replace Crystal Palace in the Women's Super League and compete against eleven other new teams.