Early Years

The team was founded in 1998, following a merger between the Bristol Rovers girls' teams and Welsh side Cable-Tel L.F.C.. This merger came about as Bristol Rovers only had girls teams up to the under 16 age group level, so when girls reached the age of 16 they were forced to leave the club. The merger with Cable-Tel meant that Bristol Rovers had a senior squad, and more importantly it gave them a place in the South West Combination league, only two levels below the top flight of women's football in England. This new merged team took the name Bristol Rovers W.F.C. and played their home games at The Beeches, the training ground and administrative offices of Bristol Rovers, located in Brislington.

Bristol Academy playing Birmingham City in 2006

The team, like their male counterparts at Bristol Rovers, were somewhat nomadic in their early days, having played home matches at The Beeches, Lodge Road (home of Yate Town), Cossham Street (Mangotsfield United), the Memorial Stadium (Bristol Rovers), Fry's Sports Ground in Keynsham, The Lawns (Cribbs F.C.),^[2] The Hand Stadium (Clevedon Town), Lakeview (Bishop Sutton), and Oaklands Park (Almondsbury Town).^[3] They finally acquired their own purpose-built home ground, Stoke Gifford Stadium, on land owned by Filton College (now South Gloucestershire and Stroud College) in time for the inaugural FA WSL season in 2011. Since then, all of their home games were played there up until the end of the 2019-20 season, with the exception of UEFA Women's Champions League matches, which have been held at Ashton Gate.^[4]

The name of the club was changed to Bristol Academy at the beginning of the 2005–06 season to reflect the increased involvement of the Bristol Academy of Sport with the club. The team continued to play in the blue and white quarters of Bristol Rovers however, and also retained the nickname The Gas Girls, an acknowledgement of Rovers' unofficial nickname of The Gas.^[5] Bristol Rovers, now in the bottom division of The Football League, found themselves unable to continue financing a women's team in 2006 and withdrew funding. Bristol Academy of Sport agreed to bankroll the team for 12 months, but there were serious doubts during the 2006–07 season that the club would survive beyond the summer.^[6]

In summer 2009 the club had a funding crisis. Manager Gary Green was sacked, Corinne Yorston left for Arsenal, Stef Curtis for Chelsea and Gwennan Harries for Everton.^[7] Without their star players the team finished bottom of the table in 2009–10.

The club were one of eight founding teams in the FA WSL in April 2011, when they moved into a brand new stadium at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College's Stoke Gifford Campus.^[8]

In 2013 the club signed a sponsorship agreement with Bristol City FC and changed their home kit from blue to red,^[9] and three years later the club was renamed Bristol City Women's Football Club.^[10]

In July 2018, the club named Tanya Oxtoby its new manager, moving into the position from being an assistant with Birmingham City W.F.C.^[11]

League history

Bristol Academy at home to Arsenal Ladies, May 2013

It took just two seasons to gain promotion to the FA Women's Premier League Southern Division, when the club won the South West Combination in the 2000–01 season under the management of Dave Bell. After this Dave Bell left the club to join the academy set-up at Manchester United, and was replaced by Tony Ricketts.

Tony Ricketts also achieved league success, with the team winning the Southern Division in the 2002–03 season and earning promotion to the FA Women's Premier League National Division. The first season in the top-flight was a struggle, with the team narrowly avoiding relegation. However Bristol Academy established themselves in the National Division with two fifth-place finishes over the next two seasons.

In the 2006–2007 season, the club reached the top spot in November (though defending champions Arsenal L.F.C. had games in hand due to European Cup, League Cup and FA Cup commitments). Arsenal played their games in hand Bristol Academy, hovered between the 4th and 8th places.

Bristol City Women finished 2nd in FA WSL 2 for the 2016 season and won promotion to FA WSL 1 for their 2017 campaign.

They were relegated in the 2020–21 season to the FA Women's Championship where they finished third in their first season back in the second tier.

The 2022–23 season saw Bristol City win their first ever league title and, with it, promotion back to the WSL.

Cup history

Bristol City away against London Bees, April 2016

In the short history of the team they have reached the semi-final of the FA Women's Cup five times. The first was in the 2000–01 season when they were still playing their league football in the South West Combination, playing in front of a club record crowd of over 3000 at the Memorial Stadium against Arsenal L.F.C. The match ended in a 3–0 defeat. Three more unsuccessful semi-final matches were to follow in this competition, against Fulham L.F.C. in 2002–03, Charlton Athletic L.F.C. in the 2004–05 season and Arsenal again providing the opposition in 2006–07.

In 2011 the club reached the final of the FA Cup after a 3–0 semi-final win over Liverpool. Bristol were beaten 2–0 by Arsenal in the final, before 13,885 fans at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.^[12] In 2013 the club reached its second FA Cup final after a 2–0 semi-final win over Lincoln Ladies. Bristol were again beaten by Arsenal 3–0 in the final at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster.

The team dominated the Gloucestershire FA Women's Challenge Cup in their early days, winning the trophy eight times in their first nine seasons. The only failure to win the competition came in the 2003–04 season when they were beaten in the final by the original Bristol City W.F.C., their first ever defeat to their cross-city rivals. Following the 2006–07 win the first team stopped competing in the tournament, although their junior teams continued taking part.

They did manage to reach the final of the Continental Tyres League Cup Final in the 2020-21 season where they unfortunately suffered defeat against Chelsea FC.

UEFA competitions

• For a detailed international record see English women's football clubs in international competitions

Because of the new WSL, England's UEFA Women's Champions League places were allocated to the FA Cup finalists as a one time exception. Thus Bristol won a place in the 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32.^[13] They started in the round of 32 and were drawn against Russian side Energiya Voronezh and drew their home game 1–1 but lost the return leg in Russia 2–4 and didn't advance.^[14][15]

Season by season

^A League cup column shows results in the FA Women's Premier League Cup (2001–2010) and the FA WSL Cup (2011–present)
^B There was no WSL Cup tournament during the 2017 WSL Spring Series

Current squad

As of 19 September 2023^[21]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Fran Bentley 2 DF  WAL Ella Powell 3 DF  DEN Sille Struck 4 DF  ENG Naomi Layzell 5 DF  ENG Brooke Aspin (on loan from Chelsea) 6 MF  IRL Megan Connolly (captain) 7 FW  SCO Abi Harrison 8 MF  SCO Amy Rodgers 9 FW  JAM Shania Hayles 10 MF  NIR Rachel Furness 11 FW  SCO Jamie-Lee Napier 12 DF  IRL Chloe Mustaki 13 GK  WAL Olivia Clark

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  ENG Jasmine Bull 16 MF  ENG Emily Syme 17 FW  DEN Amalie Thestrup 21 GK  USA Kaylan Marckese (on loan from Arsenal) 23 MF  WAL Carrie Jones 24 FW  WAL Ffion Morgan 25 GK  ENG Erin Foley 27 FW  ENG Jesse Woolley 28 FW  WAL Tianna Teisar 29 DF  ENG Mari Ward 30 GK  WAL Yasmin Davies (on loan from Portishead Town) 38 MF  WAL Manon Pearce 39 FW  ENG Maya Kendall 41 GK  NOR Benedicte Håland 44 DF  JAM Satara Murray

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  ENG Maddi Wilde (at London City Lionesses until 30 June 2024)[22]