'It feels like a final' - WSL in sight for London City Lionesses

BBC News

03-05-2025

London City Lionesses stand on the brink of a landmark moment in the club's brief history.The Women's Championship promotion race has come down to the final day of the season, with a straight shootout for promotion to the Women's Super League.The Lionesses sit two points clear at the table summit and will be promoted to the top tier for the first time if they avoid defeat to second-placed Birmingham City on Sunday.Forward Kosovare Asllani, who has played in four of Europe's 'big five' leagues and earned just shy of 200 caps for Sweden, considers it one of the biggest games of her career."It feels like a final," she told BBC Sport. "I've played a lot of big games, but this one is among them."These are the games you want to play, when everything is at stake. It's a game between the two best teams in the league."Should they get over the line at the weekend, the Lionesses will become the 20th different club to play in the top flight since its restructuring in 2011.But while Sunday could become the biggest day in the club's short history, for manager Jocelyn Precheur and billionaire owner Michele Kang, the end goal is much greater."We have a long-term project here," Precheur said. "We know where we want to go. It's just a matter of time. We have a long road but we will do it in two, three, four seasons."Promotion is just a step. Maybe I look arrogant but Michele is very clear about the project. We want to create a good club in England."
Who are London City Lionesses?
In May 2019, Millwall Lionesses split from Millwall FC to become an independent and fully professional team. The following season the renamed London City Lionesses joined the Women's Championship. It hasn't been smooth sailing for the Bromley-based Lionesses, yo-yoing between second and eighth in the table during their first five seasons and going through five permanent managers - and three interims - prior to Precheur's arrival from Paris St-Germain in June 2024.However, in 2022-23 they did come within touching distance of promotion, finishing in third position but only three points behind champions Bristol City. Although they finished second the previous year, they were 11 points behind Liverpool.In other competitions, the Lionesses have reached the fifth round of the Women's FA Cup this season and last, while they qualified for the Women's League Cup quarter-finals in 2023-24.
'When she says something, she does it'
In December 2023, London City Lionesses were bought by Kang, marking the start of a new era for the club.The South Korea-born American billionaire was inspired to invest in women's sport after meeting the World Cup-winning US women's national team in 2019 and has since built up a portfolio of women's football teams, purchasing NWSL team Washington Spirit and French serial trophy winners Lyon, alongside the Lionesses.Her objective couldn't be clearer: to make every team she owns champion of their respective league.Kang's influence has been eye-catching, recruiting manager Precheur, who led PSG to the last four of the Women's Champions League (2023-24), and bringing in more than a dozen new players throughout this season.The headline additions included veteran Sweden internationals Sofia Jakobsson and Asllani, who won the WSL with Manchester City, and five-time Women's Champions League winner Saki Kumagai.Off the field, Kang has relocated the club to Bromley and purchased the 28-acre Cobdown Park in Aylesford, Kent, with the ambition of constructing a centre of excellence for women's and girls' football.Kang is, in the words of forward Izzy Goodwin, a "very powerful woman"."It's great to have her [at our games] and when she's there, she's our lucky charm. The things she's done at this club and the other clubs is great," Goodwin said.But for Precheur, who was inspired to join the Lionesses after seeing the transformation at Washington Spirit, Kang's biggest asset isn't her investment but her commitment to her vision."What she's doing is amazing and I hope it will inspire other clubs or other rich people to invest in women's football," Precheur told BBC Sport."We've heard many times in the past, people who arrive [and say] we want to be promoted and play in the Champions League. Look at the men's side, so many examples and so many failures."You cannot realise how different it is if you haven't spoken with Michele. She knows what she wants and when she says something, she does it."When we have this kind of support, everything becomes possible. It has to come from the top if you want to breed a winning culture."I can share many things with the players, but it has to be followed and supported and created by the club and the leaders, and now it's come directly from Michele."
'It was never going to be a walk in the park'
With Kang's investment and the flurry of new arrivals, London City Lionesses were runaway pre-season favourites to secure promotion to the WSL. Many expected them to win the Championship at a canter. Instead, the promotion race has turned into a nail-biter.Victory over Durham last week would have seen them crowned champions with a match to spare, but they were held to a 1-1 draw – the second time this season Adam Furness' side have proved a thorn in the Lionesses' side after beating them 3-2 in November. Newcastle (1-1), Sunderland (1-0), and Charlton (1-1) have also taken points off the league leaders, as have Birmingham, who won last November's reverse fixture 2-1.The Lionesses have had to fight hard for their league-leading 13 wins, with seven of those victories coming via a one-goal margin. And at the halfway point in the season, just five points separated then-table toppers Birmingham from eighth-placed Charlton Athletic.
For these reasons, Precheur believes it was disrespectful to the quality of the league to tout London City Lionesses as champions-in-waiting before a ball had been kicked."We identified four or five very good teams. We identified Birmingham as a strong opponent and they confirmed the first feeling I had about them. This league is very tough, very competitive," he told BBC Sport."We think with huge financial support, two or three big names, everything becomes easy. But football is not like this. We need to create a culture and so many things to have everything we need to perform consistently during the season."Not intentionally, but it's a lack of respect for the other teams. We don't talk about small clubs. Birmingham, Charlton, Bristol, they're big clubs in England. It was a little lack of respect to think that it will be easy."Asllani, who has played top-flight football in England, France, Spain, and Italy, says the Championship is "not a normal league" as well as highlighting the rebuilding process required with the arrival of a new coach and more than a dozen new players. "It's not a normal second division. You see these top clubs playing in better stadiums than I've played in in Spain or Italy. [And] it's a physical league," Asllani said."It's a lot of top clubs, a lot of good players that have played together for a long time. Our team's been created with a lot of new players, a new coach. It's not easy to get [promotion] done in one season."Prolific attacker Goodwin agrees, with the 22-year-old teeing up Sunday's game by saying: "The Championship is such a good league. Each year, it's getting better and better. It was never going to be a walk in the park."[This game] is like a play-off final to go up to the Premier League."