Arsenal W.F.C.


Arsenal Women Football Club is an English professional women's football club affiliated with Arsenal. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top flight of English women's football.
Arsenal have won more trophies than any other club in English women's football, and have won the most titles in each domestic competition they have played in. The club have won 15 League titles, 14 FA Women's Cup, 5 FA WSL Cups, 10 Women's Premier League Cups, 5 FA Women's Community Shield, and one UEFA Women's Champions League. In the 2006–07 season, the club became the first in the history of women's football to achieve the continental European sextuple.
Arsenal were founded in 1987 following an initiative by Vic Akers, who became the club's first manager. He guided Arsenal to continued success until his departure in 2009, winning the most top-flight matches in English football history. The club have sustained this record, and have won the most doubles and trebles in English football history. Arsenal have also completed a record seven unbeaten league seasons, setting a number of English records for longest top-flight unbeaten run, for goals scored, and points won.
Arsenal have played their home games at Meadow Park, Borehamwood, since their founding.
Arsenal W.F.C. are the only club in European football to have won a continental treble, doing so while also going unbeaten in all competitions.

History

In 1987, long-term Arsenal men's team kit manager Vic Akers helped found a women's football club, and was appointed as their initial manager. The club began operating as Arsenal Ladies Football Club. Due to the status of women's football in England suffering from an overall decline in interest, Arsenal were limited to sparse, nomadic cup appearances for the first four years of their existence, and didn't turn professional until 2002. They won their first major honour, the Women's League Cup, in the 1991–92 season. Also in 1992, they won promotion to the FA Women's Premier League from the FA Women's National League South, and a season later, won the top division title at the first time of asking.
This began a period of sustained dominance for the club, who soon permanently moved into Meadow Park in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in a groundshare agreement with non-league side Boreham Wood. Following the storied successes of the men's team, Arsenal made a conscious effort to brand women's football as equitable. Over the next twenty years, Arsenal approached all facets of the game, such as training, tactics, scouting, and finance, with the goal to maximize the growth of the club and attain trophies. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Arsenal lavished atop the Premier League for many seasons, boasting academy graduates like Marieanne Spacey and Faye White, as well as utilizing the club's income on stars like Emma Byrne, to allow the club to win a slew of trophies.
Under Akers' stewardship, Arsenal enjoyed unilateral domestic success, as the club claimed 11 league titles, nine FA Women's Cup titles, ten FA Women's Premier League Cup titles, and five FA Women's Community Shield wins. This included seven straight league wins from the 2003–04 season to 2008–09 season, as well as six unbeaten campaigns. Moreover, Akers lead the team to the most successful club season in English women's football in the 2006–07 season, as the team won every single competition available to them, including the ever elusive UEFA Women's Champions League. The win marked Arsenal's only trophy won from European competition, and the first time an English club won the competition. This unique sextuple was recognized with The Committee Award by the Sports Journalists' Association in the 2007 Sports Journalists' Awards.
Akers also led the team to a number of English women's football records, including a six-year league unbeaten run from October 2003 to March 2009, marking 108 games without defeat. During that spell, Arsenal won a record 51 league games in a row, between November 2005 and April 2008. Following a domestic treble in the 2008–09 season, Akers retired from management, and was succeeded by Tony Gervaise. However, in February 2010, after eight months in charge, Gervaise resigned, suggesting his position had been undermined by outside interference. In an unusual development, reserve coach Laura Harvey became first-team manager and Gervaise became reserve coach. This appointment marked the club's first female coach in any capacity.

FA Women's Super League

After a year break in play in preparation for a reformatted league, Arsenal were named as founder members of the FA Women's Super League, which commenced in the spring of 2011. Arsenal won the inaugural season, marking their eighth consecutive English title, and secured another domestic double by also winning the FA Cup. After a two-year period without a league triumph, Shelley Kerr was announced as Harvey's successor in 2013. Under her management, the club won two FA Women's Cups, including a win in 2014, two weeks after the men's team won the 2014 FA Cup, completing a rare FA Cup double for the club. But after a poor run of form which saw Arsenal gain only one point from the opening four league matches of the 2014 season, including exits from the Champions League to minnows Birmingham and a shock lose to Reading, Kerr resigned. She was replaced by Pedro Losa. Losa led the team to the 2015 FA WSL Cup and the 2016 FA Women's Cup. Moreover, he helped the squad rebuild, notably recruiting younger stars like Daniëlle van de Donk, Kim Little, Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema. Losa also brought through youngsters like Leah Williamson. However, following the season's end, Losa resigned, and was replaced by Joe Montemurro.
In July 2017, the club rebranded as Arsenal Women Football Club, in a move described by Arsenal as "clear signal of togetherness and unity", and to retain the progressive ethos of the club. Utilizing the core Losa helped build, Montemurro led Arsenal to the 2018–19 Women's Super League title, with a game to spare. The win marked their first title in seven years, and marked the club's return to the Champions League for the first time in five years.

Stadium

Arsenal Women play most of their home matches at Meadow Park, home of Vanarama National League side Boreham Wood, in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. It has a capacity of 4,500, although attendances for most league matches are around 1,000. Arsenal's home UEFA Women's Champions League matches are also played here. However, due to the connection with Arsenal F.C., they are permitted to play in the Emirates Stadium on occasion.

Players

First-team squad

Reserves

Arsenal also operate a reserve team, which is mainly formed from Academy players. The reserves have won four FA Women's Premier Reserve League titles and five FA Women's Premier Reserve League Cups in their history.

Former players

For notable current and former players, see :Category:Arsenal W.F.C. players.

Managers

Coaching staff

As of 4 July 2020.
PositionName
Head Coach Joe Montemurro
Assistant Coach Aaron D'Antino
Goalkeeping Coach Leanne Hall

Managerial history

Honours

As of 12 December 2019.

Domestic