Coventry City Girls FC Offical Website

Coventry City Ladies FC were founded in 1991 although various Coventry Ladies sides were playing as long ago as 1910. The present club started in the West Midlands Regional League.

Coventry City Girls was set up by Coventry City Ladies back in the summer of 1995 as a feeder system to Coventry City Ladies. Although at this point the two clubs (Ladies and Girls) were separate organisations.

Ladies History Until End 2002/03 Season
The Ladies started in the West Midlands Regional League and won the league in 1995-96 but lost in the Premier League play-offs to Calverton MW. The 1996-1997 saw Coventry City win the West Midlands League and finish unbeaten and beat both Calverton MW and Middlesbrough 1-0 to secure promotion to the FA Women's Premier League whilst also winning the Regional and League Cup.

The Ladies had five seasons in the AXA Women's Premier League Northern Division and have excellent links with the Coventry City School Of Excellence & the Coventry and Warwickshire Football Academy. However,2001-2002 was not been a good season, despite a run to the FA Cup 5th Round where they were beaten by Finalists Fulham, the Sky Blues were relegated to the Midland Women's Combination League in their second season.

Girls History Until End 2002/03 Season
For the first season the club only played friendlys against league teams and games consisted of mainly mixed age teams. The 96/97 season saw the set-up of teams in the under 12 and under 14 age groups. The under 14's joined the West Midlands League while the under 12's joined the forerunner to the present Central Warwickshire Girls League.

Season 97/98 the under 12's joined the under 14's in the West Midlands League. During this season the committee was reformed inviting parents on board to help with the running of the club for fund raising and social events to raise money towards new kit and equipment. (The primary fund raising events being the fun run which in the past few years we have raised well over four thousand pounds).

Season 99/2000 saw the set up of our under 17's who played in the West Midlands Ladies League while the under 12's and 14's moved over to the Central Warwickshire League both playing in the Premier League and the under 10's competed in league football for the first time.

This season saw the club win it's first silverware when the under 10's record a convincing win over the league champions in the League Cup Final with a 5-0 score line. Also the under 17's won the West Midlands League and the League Cup after being knocked out of the semi final by Wolves but were reinstated after it was found that Wolves played several illegal players.

Season 2000/01 saw the formation of Coventry City Girls 2000 under12's who went on to win the first Division title while the under 12's premiership side won the Open Cup.

Season 2001/02 saw the under 10's winning the league while drawing the Open Cup with Leafield Athletic and sharing the trophy. This season also saw the formation of Coventry City Girls 2000 under14's to make under 12's and under 14's having two teams each and the formation of the Foundation squad (under 8's).

Season 2002/03 the club achieved the Football Association Charter Standard Club Award and also saw the club maintaining the silverware cabinet with the under 12's, 14's and under 16's all winning their respective Open Cups. Also the under 10 teams formed the Sky Blue side which joined the Leicester and County League.

Club History Since End 2002/03 Season
At the end of this season 2002/03 the Ladies and the Girls clubs joined forces and appointed a head coach in Paul Barnes while also developing stronger links with Coventry City F.C.

At the start of the 2003/04 season the number of teams expanded again. The club boasts a squad of over 200 girls starting with the foundation squad, four under 10 teams, three under 12 sides, three under 14 sides, two under 16 teams and a reserves and ladies first team. This coincided with Kelly-Anne Willis being called up to the England under 15 squad while Amanda Whalley and Jenny Igoe being called up to the England under 17 and under 19 squads respectively. Amanda and Jenny both started their football careers in the junior section progressing their way through the squads.

Off field areas were also improved including an awareness programme aimed at supporters of Coventry City's men's team to get them interested in the club and it's activities. In order to achieve even more awareness, we have enlisted the Covsupport news service to help us keep Coventry supporters informed.

Season 2003/04 saw the under 10's win the Leicester City & County Girls Football League while the under 12's won the Central Warwickshire Girls Football League Shield and the under 14's defended the open cup eventually sharing the trophy when the scores remained level after extra time. While the first team won the Midland Combination League Division One with a nail biting finish having to go to Nottingham Forest and avoid a 4-0 defeat which in only losing 2-1 were crowned champions and promoted to the Northern Premier league.

At the end of Season 2003/04 the club appointed Tom Stack as Director of Football with Mark Phillips taking over as First team manager assisted by Ian Weaving while Steve Carter took over the running of the reserves assisted by Mark Howard.

Season 2004/05 saw a disappointing year for the first team, ending in relegation from the Northern Premier league. The team though did make friends along the way and were rewarded at the FA awards receiving for Fair Play. At junior level the Under 11s followed on with winning win the Leicester City & County Girls Football League under 11 league and both the Under 11s and under 12s had success at National Tournaments

At the club AGM in June 05, the proposal was passed to structure two clear pathways for Coventry City Girls FC. The club created two distinctive sections: Coventry City Ladies Football Club and Coventry City Ladies (Development) Football Club. Each club has its own defined Board, constitution and accounts, but they still have the very close relationship in terms of player development, the sharing of ideas and initiatives etc.

Starting in the 2005/2006 season, the FA launch the Centre of Excellence (COE) league in the Midlands and Coventry set the pace as one of the first clubs to sign up. In the first season Coventry won the Under 16s Midlands Centre of Excellence Cup Winners with the Under 12s also reaching the final. The first team going through transition after relegation finished mid-table in the Midland Combination League. In the Development section the Under 12 A won Central Warwickshire Girls Football League under 12s League Shield. On tour in Holland the Under 17s won the Easter Open Cup held in North Brabant

Season 2006/2007 saw the launch of the 'Think Premiership' campaign for the First Team, a three year plan to return the team back to the Premier League. Stuart Wilson came in to coach the first team and they finished runners up to Rotherham . The Under 16 COE won their league title whilst the Under 12 A won Central Warwickshire Girls Football League - Division One. The club again had enlarged itself with a total of 12 junior teams being run between the two clubs. The Under 17s return to Holland and defended the trophy won the previous year.

For 2007/08 Stuart Wilson was again at the helm of the first team, they narrow missed out on promotion with the places being decided at the final game of the season at Leicester. For the second year in a row the first team were runners up. The Open Age Team won the Birmingham County Open Cup and an under 19 team went to Holland to win the Easter Open Cup. International recognition was achieve for Jade Formaston at England Under 17 level and Nikki Miles at England Under 15 level. At the end of the season, the two clubs decided to split into two separate organisations. The Development club decided to return to the name of Coventry City Girls FC which had been used prior to the two clubs joining under the Coventry City Ladies banner. The history for the Coventry City Ladies will now appear on their own website of www.cclfc.co.uk and the information on this site will only cover the Girls teams.

Club History Since End 2007/08 Season
Now proudly displaying the original name of Coventry City Girls FC, the club started the 2008/09 season with Jamie Walker in charge of the new look first team. And what a great season they had. They comfortable won the Birmingham County League and well as securing the Birmingham County League Open Cup and Shield making them the first team ever to complete a Birmingham League treble. Further success was also found at Under 15 level. The under 15 A won both the Central Warwickshire League Under 15 Division and Open Cup. The Under 15 B reached the final of the Leicester League Under 15 cup. It was this team first cup final where they did themselves proud and can count them selves extremely unfortunate to have lost. In its first season as an independent club again, all teams received new kits displaying the new club logo but still playing in Sky Blue. A noticeable first also took place for the club. In March 2009, the 1^st team received a new pink kit. The Breast Cancer Campaign agreed to their emblem being used on the strip (a first for a football club) and the club is now the charity's Official Footballing Ambassadors.

The 2009/10 season saw a couple of noticeable and historic events for the club. On 11 October 2009, the club played it first ever game in the Women’s FA Cup. The game was played away against Corby S&L. Although the game ended in a 4-0 lost, being able to enter the competition had showed how far the club had come. The other historic event came later in the season, when the Under 16 won the Birmingham FA Girls’ County Cup. This was the first time ever a club from Coventry had won the competition. Losing 1-0 at half time to Leafield Athletic, a great second half performance meant the Girls won 2-1. This allowed the girls to go to the Tesco Cup competition Central Regional Final. Here they meet other County Cup champions in shortened 11-a-side games. Although the girls did not lose or concede a goal, they did not qualify for the final.

Elsewhere during the 2009/10 season, with the first team being promoted to West Midlands Regional League South Division, the club further expanded with a Reserve team entering Birmingham County League. The first team were runners up in their League, with the decisive game being the second from last versus Dudley Ladies. A win would have given them back to back promotions, but in the end they had to settle for runners up. The Under 16 A won the Central Warwickshire League Under 16 league. The Under 16 B team continued there great form of the previous season by again coming runners up in the Leicester League Under 16 cup and adding runners up in the league. The rest of the Junior squads continued there good work and with the Foundation squads (Under 8s) reformed the future was looking bright.

Previous first team managers include James Goodwinand Jamie Walker.

Thanks must go to Kev Monks, Brian Ellis and Paul Griffiths for providing the above information.