Credit: Leicester City/ LCFC Women

Leicester City has launched its first fully professional women’s football team after the Premier League side acquired Leicester City Women’s Football Club (LCWFC).

LCWFC has been supported by Leicester City since its formation in 2004, however the women’s team was an independent entity from the Premier League side.

Following King Power International’s acquisition of the women’s team, LCWFC will be renamed LCFC Women whilst becoming a fully professional side, joining Leicester City’s men’s, under-23s and under-18s teams. 

LCFC Women will be fully integrated into Leicester City’s website, having its own sub-section which will feature interviews and a variety of other content. Moreover, the side’s 23 player roster has already been created ahead of the 2020/21 FAWC campaign, which begins on September 5.

As a result, 12 players from LCWFC prior to the acquisition have been signed to professional contacts, a first for the women involved. Meanwhile, those players will be joined by 11 new signings which have been recruited from FA Women’s Super League and FAWC teams.

Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “This is a really proud day. The introduction of a women’s team embedded within the Club has been an ambition of ours for some time and today it can start to be realised.

“The club’s co-operation with LCWFC since 2004 has been a valuable gateway to the women’s game. Its chairman, Rohan Morgan, and its staff and players deserve great credit for the solid foundations they have built and we’re really excited to see how we can progress with the setup in-house.

“LCFC Women will carry the standard, but our vision for developing the women’s game in Leicester is wide-ranging. We want to build on the recent success of women’s football to inspire a generation of young girls and to ensure opportunities exist for the gifted among them to have a future in the game.”

LCWFC’s general manager Jade Morgan and team manager Jonathan Morgan will retain their roles on a full-time basis for LCFC Women, whilst the club’s former chairman Rohan Morgan will become an advisor to an LCFC Women’s Football Leadership Group. The group will be led by chief executive Susan Whelan.

Rohan Morgan added: “This is an amazing step forward, both for our team and for women’s football in the city. For many years now, we have proudly represented Leicester City in the women’s game and tried to build an organisation with solid foundations, high standards and the potential for growth.

“Officially joining the Leicester City family is the best possible endorsement of that work and I’m extremely proud of every player, member of staff and volunteer – several of whom will be continuing the journey with us – that has helped bring us to this point.”

Leicester City have also announced that the team will continue to play its home matches at Farley Way Stadium in Quorn during the 2020/21 season.

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