Both city-wide football teams in Leicester are in danger of demotion this season. The men’s team are desperately trying to avoid the trap door to the third tier of English football, whilst the women’s team are facing relegation from the Women’s Super League (WSL). With only five games left they sit bottom of the league. They have won only two, and drawn three, of 17 games scoring a measly eight goals whilst conceding 35.
The WSL was established by the FA in 2010 and consists of twelve professional clubs. Leicester City women were founded in 2004. They applied to be an inaugural member of the WSL in 2010 but were unsuccessful. Instead, they worked their way through the leagues eventually winning promotion to the WSL in 2021. A year earlier, they had been acquired by the King Power group becoming fully professional.
There are fewer financial restrictions on clubs in women’s football than there are in the men’s game and so, even though the vast majority of WSL clubs are affiliated with men’s Premier League clubs, financial inequality means that the league is much less competitive. For instance, Chelsea have won eight out of the last nine WSL titles and only four clubs – Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City – have ever won it. What is more, the current big four – the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea - tend to win most of their matches against the other eight clubs with convincing score lines and amass a huge number of points over the season.
In the first two seasons, there was no relegation from the WSL. In this campaign, as the aim is to expand the number of teams in the top flight, two teams will automatically be promoted from the WSL 2 whilst the side bottom of the WSL will play-off against the third placed second tier side. Even if the Foxes finish bottom, therefore, they still have a chance to survive.
A linked future
As with all but one of the WSL clubs – the exception being the London City Lionesses – Leicester City women are affiliated to a professional men’s team. Significantly, though, Leicester women’s team is the only WSL side at present that is affiliated to a club outside the Premier League.
Not surprisingly, as the club have struggled financially since the men’s team’s relegation from the Premier League, the resources available to the women’s team have also declined. This limits their ability to invest in players. Like most of the clubs outside of the big four, the gate receipts for Leicester women’s home games are tiny. Financially, they cannot compete effectively with most of the other clubs in the WSL, and particularly the big four.
Relegation for the men’s team to League One will clearly further limit the money available for the women’s side of the club. In the Championship, the Foxes have a huge wage bill, and it would be enormous for a side in the third tier. Not only that. The extensive running costs of the Seagrave training complex will still have to be paid. Even if Leicester City men do stay up, the financial constraints operating on the club – particularly as there is only one season left of parachute payments – are considerable.
In this context, it has been suggested that it may even be helpful if Leicester City women are relegated because that would reduce the financial burden on the club. Demotion from the WSL could also mean that Leicester City women lose their professional status. Clearly, this would be a great shame. Whatever else, relegation would mean there will be little chance of holding on to their high-profile players such as Alisha Lehmann and Ashleigh Neville.
There is so much resting on the outcome of the final few weeks of the season for both the men and the women of Leicester City.