Fulham aim to ‘create own history’ in Women’s FA Cup

Women’s FA Cup: Fulham v London City Lionesses

Venue: Craven Cottage Date: Sunday, 12 January Kick-off: 12: 00 GMT

Two-time Women’s FA Cup winners Fulham want to create their “own history” as the lowest-ranked side left in the competition.

London City Lionesses take on fifth-tier Fulham on Sunday at Craven Cottage in a live broadcast of the BBC Women’s Championship game.

The club, who became the first fully professional women’s team in 2000, won back-to-back FA Cups in 2002 and 2003 – but funding was withdrawn and the team was dissolved in 2006.

Fulham revived their women’s team in 2014, and they now compete as a part-time team in the London and South East Regional Women’s Premier Division.

Fulham have reached the fourth round of the FA Cup for the first time since returning to their former glory on Sunday, and this is their third successive visit to the men’s Premier League ground this year.

The current generation is ready to make their own mark, according to manager Steve Jaye, who said they are unbeaten in the league this season and have won 16 of their last 16 games in all competitions.

“We are very fortunate to have a rich history in the competition, but that was a very long time ago”, he told his pre-match news conference.

According to Jaye, allegations about the conduct of Fulham’s late former owner Mohamed Al Fayed were made public last October, and the club has since acknowledged its troubled past.

Former manager Gaute Haugenes told the BBC last year that extra measures had been put in place to protect female players from the former owner, while former Fulham Ladies captain Ronnie Gibbons claimed she was groped by Al Fayed on two occasions.

Last year, Fulham claimed to be attempting to determine whether any members of the club had experienced “affected” by Al Fayed.

“We restarted in 2014, and have had a 10-year journey to this point”, said Jaye, when asked by the BBC on what impact these stories had on his squad. We anticipate what we can produce as a team.

” We are aware of the historic stuff and sad to hear about it, but there’s not much I can talk about on that when there’s an ongoing investigation.

Fulham are competing for promotion. They have won seven and drawn one of their eight league games thus far, and they now have five games in hand after a number of postponements earlier in the campaign. They are currently 10 points behind Dartford.

Defender Becky Stormer, who spent time with the original Fulham Ladies academy before making her debut six seasons ago, says their squad is eager to take on second-place duties and will be well-equipped given that they only have the ability to train three times per week while working full-time.

“Being realistic we are the underdogs, but this is a good place to be”, she told BBC Sport. We wanted a club with a championship or women’s super league, and we are very excited about the test.

Since it’s a very different team, Stella Gandee Morgan added midfielder Stella Gandee Morgan, who may be experimenting a little bit with our tactics this week.

” Mostly it’s excited nervousness. The pressure is entirely on them because we haven’t been the underdogs this year.

“We are going in with a lot of confidence. We are aware that if we can hold them, we will have goalkeepers.

Before facing the London City Lionesses, who entered round three, Fulham fought through the preliminaries and needed to win five games.

In the second round of qualifying, The Whites defeated fourth-division rivals Epsom & Ewell 13-0 before falling to Brentford to win 2-1 in round three to establish this tie.

Ellie Olds, who scored the opener at Brentford, told BBC Sport, “We have had a really good run, and we will see what happens with the magic of the cup.”

Fulham’s part-time team upholds the FA Cup’s tradition of having players from all walks of life, such as a personal trainer, university lecturer, and catering assistant.

Ella Tagliavini, a defender, wants to persuade her students to come to the University College of Football Business in Wembley to support the team.

“I’m fortunate, I have managed to juggle academics and football well but it is a challenge when we’re training three times a week”, she told BBC Sport.

“It requires a lot of effort, time, and effort from us,” he said. We want to give a lot of what this club has given us.

” I need to get the email around to students, to get them to come down. “

Megalie Mendes, the vice-captain for the England women’s team, is familiar with supporting some of the best female footballers rather than being the star herself.

Kosovare Asllani, a member of the Sweden side that finished third at the 2023 World Cup, will play for the London City Lionesses on Sunday, along with some of the biggest women’s football players.

Following the acquisition of billionaire Michele Kang and the signings of Asllani and Jocelyn Precheur, the visitors have made headlines this season.

” It’s like comparing apples and oranges, “said Portuguese defender Mendes, when asked by BBC Sport about how she will measure up against Asllani.