Fulham FC Women, previously known as Fulham LFC, WFC Fulham and Fulham FC Foundation Ladies, is a

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

club based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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 a professional association football, football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football league system, English football. They have played home games at Craven ...

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; club chairman

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Fayed (; 27 January 192930 August 2023) was an Egyptian businessman whose residence and primary business interests were in the United Kingdom from the mid-1960s. His business interests included ownership of the Hôtel R ...

reverted the club to semi-professional status three years later, but 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 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 (currently known as the Adobe Women's FA Cup for sponso ...

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 FA Women's National League South. The club was founded after the ladies team representing Wimbledon F.C. decided to transfer to AFC Wimbledon, after ...

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, 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 South is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super Le ...

, 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 leve ...

by a comfortable margin. Star players like

Rachel Yankey Rachel Aba Yankey (born 1 November 1979) is a former English footballer who played as a winger or forward. Yankey is best known for her long association with Arsenal Ladies, for whom she played 15 seasons over two separate spells, and is rank ...

and

Katie Chapman Katie Sarah Chapman (born 15 June 1982) is an English former professional association football, footballer who notably played for FA WSL clubs Arsenal W.F.C., Arsenal Ladies and Chelsea L.F.C., Chelsea Ladies and was a member of the England wome ...

were supplemented by high-profile overseas imports like

Marianne Pettersen Marianne Iren Pettersen (born 12 April 1975) is a Norwegian footballer. She was a forward for the club Asker, whom she joined from Gjelleråsen after the 1996 season, and became the top scorer with 36 goals in the 1998 season of 18 matches. ...

. In the 2001–02 season, they won the

, the London County Cup, the

FA Women's Premier League Cup The FA Women's National League Cup is an annual England, English women's association football, football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, Women's Football Association (WFA). The 1991–92 WFA Women's National L ...

and the

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

, League Cup and

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

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. T ...

, 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 a professional football club based in Fulham, West London, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of English football. They have played home games at Craven Cottage since 1896, other than a two-year period spen ...

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 and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

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 is a group of six Association football, football divisions which sit at the third and fourth tiers of women's football in England. Founded in 1991 as the WFA National League, the league was run by the Women's Footba ...

. 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 ...

. 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. Officially becoming re-incorporated into Fulham FC and rebranding as Fulham FC Women in 2018. On 20 November 2022, Fulham FC Women played its first match back at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

since the clubs reformation. The match was against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

in a Capital Cup match, resulting in a 3–1 defeat. The match had the clubs highest attendance of 3,181 since the reformation.

Players

Current squad

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 1991–92 WFA National League Premier Division, 1991 until 2009–10 FA Women's Premier League, 2010, the ...

** 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 n ...

(as ''Friends of Fulham''),

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

*** Runners-up:

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

(as ''Friends of Fulham''),

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

** 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 60 ...

* London County Cup ** Winners: 2002–03

References

{{Fulham F.C.

Ladies ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Association football clubs established in 1993 Women's football clubs in England Women's football clubs in London Defunct football clubs in England Association football clubs disestablished in 2010 1993 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England FA Women's National League teams Defunct football clubs in London

History

Players

Current squad

Honours

See also

References