Important Dates During LCFC Women’s Debut WSL Season
The 2021/22 season will involve 22 league fixtures for the Foxes in the 12-team league, against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United.
The opening game, several local derby fixtures and a meeting with the title holders are all key dates in the calendar to look out for…
Champions meet on matchday one
The 2019/20 FA Women’s Championship champions host last season’s second tier winners as Aston Villa tackle LCFC Women on the opening weekend of the new campaign.
To be played on 3-5 September, 2021, City’s first match in the top-flight will be against a Midlands rival, although the pair have not met since a Championship encounter on 7 December, 2019.
Villa came out on top that evening, winning 3-1, with Freya Thomas on the scoresheet for the visiting Foxes.
New manager Carla Ward will be in the home dugout this time around after Villa finished 2020/21 in 10th position, three points clear of the relegation zone.
The opening home game
Facing another opponent with a new manager, LCFC Women will take on Manchester United for their first home fixture of the season on the weekend of 10-12 September, 2021.
It will be the first competitive meeting since May’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup Fifth Round clash at Leigh Sports Village, which ended in a 3-2 win for the visiting Foxes thanks to goals from Shannon O’Brien, Hannah Cain and Natasha Flint.
Forward Jess Sigsworth is in line to face the side she left to join Leicester, having signed for the Club in July, while City midfielder Charlie Devlin is another ex-United player who could face her former employers.
Visiting the title-holders
WSL winners two seasons running and UEFA Women’s Champions League finalists in 2020/21, tests don’t come much bigger than Chelsea, who Leicester City travel to meet on matchday five on 8-10 October, 2021.
There is an array of world-class talent in the capital club’s ranks, including last season’s WSL top goalscorer, Sam Kerr, and forward Pernille Harder, who joined Emma Hayes’ side for a widely reported world record fee for a female player in September 2020.
The two sides have never previously met in a competitive fixture and LCFC Women manager Jonathan Morgan commented on the challenge of facing the Blues: “For us to come up against some of the best players in the world and some of the best coaches in the world, tactically, will be fantastic for us.”
A Midlands derby ahead of the winter break
Leicester fans will have fond memories of playing near-neighbours Birmingham City after beating the Midlands side 6-5 in a penalty shootout at Damson Park to progress into the FA Women’s Continental Tyres League Cup Quarter-Finals last season.
Their latest meeting on 17-19 December, 2021, the final game before Christmas, is likely to be a much different encounter than the 0-0 draw back in December 2020, not least due to Birmingham having appointed a new manager, Scott Booth, formerly of Glasgow City.
Both sides will be hoping to finish the year on a high, ahead of the reverse fixture, hosted by the Blues, on 4-6 February, 2022.
The final day
The 2021/22 Barclays FA Women’s Super League season will be wrapped up in May, a month which is set to start at home to Reading and finish with a trip to the capital to face Tottenham Hotspur on 7-8 May, 2022.
Spurs, now managed by former England assistant manager Rehanne Skinner, are into their third campaign as a top-flight club, and will be aiming to secure enough points to reach a fourth consecutive season at this level.
Tottenham won both games when the pair went head-to-head during the 2018/19 FA Women’s Championship season, winning 3-0 and 1-0 as they sealed promotion into the WSL.