All About the London City Lionesses

When it comes to women’s football, there are big-name teams that everyone will have heard of. All of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and more have women’s teams, which will obviously draw more attention than many of the other sides in the Women’s Super League and the Championship.

It isn’t always the case that teams are associated with a men’s side, however. Perhaps the best example of this is the London City Lionesses, which was created as a breakaway club from the Millwall Lionesses in 2019 and have existed in its own right ever since, now competing in the WSL.

A Brief History of the Club

A statement was released by Millwall Football Club on the 13th of May 2019, which announced that the Millwall Lionesses’ board of directors and senior management had decided to split from the men’s club. The idea was that they would become an independent entity, which would operate under a new name from that point onwards. The Football Association had already given the breakaway the green light in principle, officially agreeing to transfer the Championship licence that had been held by Millwall on the 29th of June 2019. The responsibility for funding the new club fell on blockchain entrepreneur Anthony Culligan and his wife, Diane.

Diane was put in place as the Chairwoman, responsible for running the club’s day-to-day operations. After the England Lionesses’ success at the 2022 Euros, where they beat Germany in the final, there was an uptick in interest in the club, with season ticket sales increasing as a result. The 2022-2023 campaign was not one without difficulties, however, thanks to the resignation of the manager, Melissa Phillips, in the January of 2023, allowing her to take over at Angel City FC in Los Angeles. In the June of that year, all of the players sent a collective message to Diane Culligan, asking her to either sell the club or raise investment.

Having cited financial instability and a lack of player signings ahead of the 2023-2024 season, as well as a lack of a permanent manager, the players were pleased when the Culligans agreed to sell the club to Michele Kang, who also owned the American team, the Washington Spirit. After completing the takeover, Kang announced on the 27th of June 2024 that the club had signed Swedish national team captain Kosovare Asllani, whilst also appointing the former Paris Saint-Germain captain, Jocelyn Prêcheur, as the club’s new manager. It was seen as a statement of intent by the new owner, who also chose to move the club.

Leaving Princes Park in Dartford, the London City Lionesses would instead start playing their home games at the Hayes Lane ground in Bromley, having reached a ground-share agreement with Bromley FC. A move was also made to purchase Cobdown Park in Aylesford, Kent, with the hope of turning the 28-acre site into a world-class training facility. The 27th of July saw Kang announce the launching of Kynisca Sports International Ltd., which was a multi-team organisation on a worldwide scale, which looked to provide the infrastructure to develop the Lionesses alongside Washington Spirit and OL Lyonnes, which she also owned.

The moves made by Kang proved to be successful, with the London City Lionesses confirming their promotion to the Women’s Super League on the fourth of May 2025, becoming the first fully independent side to make the jump to the top-flight. The match that won them promotion, a final day draw with Birmingham City, became the first Women’s Championship match to be broadcast live on Sky Sports, at the same time as it was available on YouTube. It came just under a year after the purchase of Cobdown Park was completed, making it a bespoke, woman-centric training facility close to the village of Aylesford.

Although used for sports since 1931, Cobdown Park became the club’s permanent training ground on the 26th of September 2025 after full planning permission had been granted by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. After being promoted into the WSL, the London City Lionesses agreed a sponsorship deal with Nike, seeing the manufacturer become the supplier of the official home, away and third kits for two years. The deal also saw Nike sign up to a partnership to develop women athletes and community services in London.

Current Squad

As you can imagine, the exact makeup of a roster of footballers changes on a fairly regular basis. Even so, it is worth having a look at the names that are associated with the London City Lionesses at the time of writing.

The head coach is Eder Maestre, who replaced Jocelyn Prêcheur, whilst the squad actively at the club at the start of March 2026 was as follows:

Player	Position	Number	Nationality
Jana Fernández	DF	2	ESP
Poppy Pattinson	DF	3	ENG
Isa Kardinaal	DF	4	NED
Teyah Goldie	DF	5	ENG
María Pérez	MF	6	ESP
Lucía Corrales	FW	7	ESP
Saki Kumagai	MF	8	JPN
Kosovare Asllani (captain)	FW	9	SWE
Daniëlle van de Donk	MF	10	NED
Paula Partido	FW	12	ESP
Elena Linari	DF	13	ITA
Freya Godfrey	FW	14	ENG
Sanni Franssi	FW	15	FIN
Julia Roddar	MF	16	SWE
Nikita Parris	FW	17	ENG
Gesa Marashi	MF	18	ENG
Delphine Cascarino	FW	20	FRA
Isobel Goodwin	FW	23	ENG
Rofiat Imuran	DF	25	NGA
Wassa Sangaré (on loan from Lyon)	DF	26	FRA
Corinne Henson	DF	27	USA
Malou Marcetto	MF	30	DEN
Emily Orman	GK	32	ENG
Alanna Kennedy	DF	33	AUS
Sophia Poor	GK	35	ENG
Elene Lete	GK	77	ESP
Grace Geyoro	MF	88	FRA

There are also five players who are on the books of the London City Lionesses, but who are currently out on loan. They are Finnish forward Lotta Lindström, English midfielder Katie Zelem, English defenders Cerys Brown and Maddi Wilde and English goalkeeper, Sophie Hillyerd. They are on the books of Birmingham City, West Ham United, Nottingham Forest, Celtic and Watford, respectively.

The club’s Director of Football is Ronald Thompson, whilst the assistant coach for the first team is Becky Langley and the goalkeeping coach is Sophie Harris.