A Record-Breaking Season In Numbers
With the 2023/24 campaign now turning into a distant memory, we take another look back on a season which saw the Foxes re-write the history books across the statistical board.
Starting off by compiling the details from the final Barclays Women’s Super League standings, City recorded their highest ever points tally, reaching 18, which is two better than last year’s 10th place finish.
They managed this feat with four fewer defeats, scoring 26 goals compared to last term’s 15, also conceding four fewer goals along the way.
In terms of goals, Jutta Rantala topped the charts, finding the net on 10 occasions in all competitions; the Finnish forward became the first City player to hit double figures during a WSL season, and did it in her debut year too.
The accolades for oldest and youngest goalscorer, incredibly, came in the same game. Defeating bottom-placed Bristol City in February at King Power Stadium, Janice Cayman found the net at the age of 35 years, four months and two days. The Belgian international broke her own record numerous times throughout the campaign.
At the other end of the scale, Academy striker Denny Draper rounded off the 5-2 scoreline, netting her first top-flight goal at the age of 16 years, 11 months and two days.
In Leicester’s short professional history, two players reached a record milestone of 100 appearances. English midfielder Sam Tierney collected a century against Brighton & Hove Albion towards the back end of March, before Scotland international Sophie Howard achieved the same accomplishment on the last day of the season against Liverpool.
Thirty of Tierney’s caps came this year, as the former Doncaster Belles player played, and started, in every single game Leicester featured in. Rantala was the only other player to feature in every game as the No.8 romped home at the End of Season Awards evening, claiming both the Player and Players’ Player of the Season trophies.
There were 13 different nationalities to represent the Foxes, who recorded a highest-ever attendance against Manchester United on 28 April, with 6,261 fans on Filbert Way.
Of course, one of the most memorable moments of the campaign came when City made it all the way to the FA Cup Semi-Finals for the first time in their history, beating Derby County, Birmingham City and Liverpool on their way to the final four.
Giving it their all in the capital, they were undone in extra-time by Tottenham Hotspur who went on to lose to eventual winners Man Utd at Wembley Stadium. But a memorable day in front of more than 1,000 travelling Foxes will continue to live long in the memory, as they now prepare for a fourth consecutive season in the top division.