 | ||||
| Full name | Stoke City Football Club Women | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Potters | |||
| Founded | 2001 | |||
| Ground | Wellbeing Park Stone,Stoke-on-Trent[1] | |||
| Capacity | 1,000[2] | |||
| Head Coach | Sarah Richardson | |||
| League | FA Women's National League North Premier Division | |||
| 2024–25 | FA Women's National League North, 3rd of 12 | |||
| Website | stokecityfc.com/women | |||
 Current season | ||||
Stoke City Football Club Women are anEnglishwomen's association football club affiliated withStoke City. They are currently members of theFA Women's National League North Premier Division the third tier ofwomen's football in England.
The club were formed in the summer of 2001 and had a successful first season in the West Midlands league Division One finishing third before gaining promotion to the Premier Division via the play-offs. Season 2008–09 saw the Ladies gain promotion into theMidland Combination League. A title-winning 2012–13 campaign saw the team gain promotion to theFA Women's Premier League Northern Division.
An early Stoke Ladies team was formed in 1921 by Len Bridgett, a director at Stoke.[3] His side were generally referred as "Stoke United" and their games were mostly for charitable causes. They played againstDick, Kerr's Ladies fromPreston twice in April 1921 in aid of the Royal Staffordshire Infirmary.[3] However, in December 1921the FA banned woman's football claiming it to be "unsuitable for females".[3] Undeterred Bridgett arranged for his side to play inBarcelona against French side Les Sportives de Paris. They played two matches against Paris and won both. Their final match was against Dick Kerr's inColne, on 22 September 1923.[3]
Stoke City Ladies were formed in 2001 and began playing in theWest Midlands League Division One, the sixth tier of Woman's football in England. They finished in third position gaining promotion to theWest Midlands League Premier Division. They spent the next seven season's in the fifth tier before winning the league title in 2008–09 after amassing 81 points scoring 95 goals and conceding only 14 in just 22 matches. They also won theStaffordshire County Cup four time in a row from 2009 to 2012. In March 2013 with the side well on top of theMidland Combination League the club decided to apply to join the expandingFA Woman's Super League, however their attempt was unsuccessful.[4] They won their sixth County Cup by beating their reserve team 5–1 on 19 March 2013.[5] They won the Midland Combination League title on 26 March 2013 beatingLeafield Athletic 1–0.[6]
The club re-branded in July 2019 dropping the "Ladies" sub-title becoming Stoke City F.C. Women.[7] In March 2023 it was announced that the team are to turn semi-professional for the 2023–24 season.[8] In July 2023, the team appointedMarie Hourihan as their first full-time head coach.[9] In2024–25 the team reached the final of theFA Women's National League Cup for the first time, losing 3–1 toNottingham Forest at theBescot Stadium.[10][11]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Source:[13]
| Season | League | Women's FA Cup | League Cup | County Cup | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | ||||
| 2001–02 | West Midlands Division One ↑ | 20 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 83 | 17 | 44 | 3rd | — | — | — |
| 2002–03 | West Midlands Premier Division | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 58 | 43 | 34 | 4th | — | — | — |
| 2003–04 | West Midlands Premier Division | 20 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 35 | 33 | 4th | — | — | — |
| 2004–05 | West Midlands Premier Division | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 34 | 33 | 24 | 6th | R1 | — | — |
| 2005–06 | West Midlands Premier Division | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 36 | 53 | 24 | 7th | QR1 | RU | R2 |
| 2006–07 | West Midlands Premier Division | 21 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 55 | 29 | 45 | 3rd | QR2 | — | W |
| 2007–08 | West Midlands Premier Division | 21 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 67 | 21 | 46 | 3rd | — | — | RU |
| 2008–09 | West Midlands Premier Division ↑ | 22 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 95 | 14 | 81 | 1st | R2 | — | W |
| 2009–10 | Midland Combination League | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 49 | 44 | 33 | 6th | R3 | — | W |
| 2010–11 | Midland Combination League | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 46 | 30 | 36 | 4th | R2 | R1 | W |
| 2011–12 | Midland Combination League | 22 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 55 | 23 | 45 | 2nd | R3 | R1 | W |
| 2012–13 | Midland Combination League ↑ | 22 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 72 | 9 | 55 | 1st | R1 | W | W |
| 2013–14 | FA Women's Premier League | 20 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 51 | 45 | 33 | 5th | R3 | R1 | W |
| 2014–15 | FA Women's Premier League | 22 | 8 | 2 | 12 | 38 | 38 | 28 | 7th | R4 | R1 | W |
| 2015–16 | FA Women's Premier League | 22 | 14 | 2 | 6 | 59 | 28 | 46 | 4th | R3 | QF | W |
| 2016–17 | FA Women's Premier League | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 43 | 37 | 30 | 4th | R1 | R2 | W |
| 2017–18 | FA Women's Premier League | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 52 | 38 | 40 | 4th | R2 | R1 | W |
| 2018–19 | FA Women's National League North | 24 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 59 | 51 | 33 | 7th | R4 | QF | W |
| 2019–20 | FA Women's National League North | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 32 | 17 | 25 | 4th | R2 | — | — |
| 2020–21 | FA Women's National League North | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 22 | 11 | 7th | — | — | — |
| 2021–22 | FA Women's National League North | 24 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 36 | 54 | 25 | 9th | R3 | PR | W |
| 2022–23 | FA Women's National League North | 22 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 32 | 49 | 24 | 10th | R3 | R2 | W |
| 2023–24 | FA Women's National League North | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 41 | 37 | 34 | 5th | R3 | R1 | SF |
| 2024–25 | FA Women's National League North | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 66 | 30 | 49 | 3rd | R4 | RU | W |
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