Leicester will be the latest club to join the Super League for women next season, with the fox securing the 2020/21 championship for women and promotion with two matches in the campaign.
Leicester have only lost seven points in the league all season and the first place was kept over the weekend thanks to a 12th victory in a row in a run that stretches back to the beginning of November. The decisive victory came over the London City Lionesses on Easter Sunday.
The Foxes are now mathematically out of reach for Durham’s second place, having won four games more than their nearest rivals and scored almost twice as many goals.
Leicester play in the WSL next season Matthew Lewis / Getty Images
For Leicester, investment has been crucial to their marketing. The club was founded in 2004 but until 2020 had only informal links with the male counterparts. That changed last year when the women’s side was officially absorbed into the club following a takeover of the parent company King Power and could immediately become completely professional in a semi-professional league.
Previous women’s championships ended in the seventh in 2018/19 and the sixth in 2019/20 quickly became a distant memory when the foxes found their feet in the autumn. They even reached the semifinals of this season’s Continental Cup.
Here’s an introduction to 10 of Leicester’s best and most important players this season …
Sam Tierney is a goal threat from hill Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images
Place: Outerback
Went with: 2020
Tierney is a key player for Leicester at both ends of the pitch, having been poached from other Championship side Sheffield United last summer. She has scored three league goals from her back position this season and is known as a singer on the pitch.
Esmee De Graaf has two senior matches for the Netherlands Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images
Place: Outerback
Went with: 2020
Two-cap Dutch international De Graaf joined Leicester 2020 after a two-year stint at the edge of the West Ham team in the WSL. She is still only 23 but was captain of the Dutch club PEC Zwolle only before she moved to England three years ago.
Ashleigh Plumptre grew up as a Leicester fan | Jacques Feeney / Getty Images
Place: Mittback
Went with: 2020
Leicester fan Plumptre was just 17 when she sat on the bench for Notts County in the 2015 FA Cup final at Wembley and joined Leicester before this season after three years playing college football in North America at the University of Southern California.
Charlie Devlin previously won promotion to WSL with Man Utd | Catherine Ivill / Getty Images
Place: Offensive midfield
Went with: 2020
Earlier, Manchester United attacked midfielder Devlin’s second promotion from the Women’s Championship in his career. She made 16 appearances and made five appearances when United stormed the second tier in 2018/19, but she did not stay at the club in the WSL.
Sophie Howard has experience abroad and at the international level James Chance / Getty Images
Place: Mittback
Went with: 2020
Howard gives a lot of experience to the Leicester squad. The defender was born and raised in Germany, played college football in Florida, played club football in the United States and Germany and proved to be Reading in the WSL. She also went to the 2019 World Cup with Scotland.
Remi Allen had his first spell in Leicester more than a decade ago James Chance / Getty Images
Place: My midfield
Went with: 2020
Like Howard, Allen also joined Leicester from Reading 2020, having previously played for Birmingham and Lincoln in the WSL before that. This is actually the midfielder’s second spell in Leicester after an earlier period in the late 2000s and she is a hometown hero.
Paige Bailey-Gayle was developed by Arsenal | Alex Pantling / Getty Images
Place: Wing / striker
Went with: 2019
Still just a teenager, England youth international Bailey-Gayle arrived from Arsenal after making a handful of first team appearances for the Gunners. She came into this season and wanted to score more goals for Leicester than she managed in 2019/20 and has reached that goal.
Kirstie Levell used to play for Everton in the WSL | Catherine Ivill / Getty Images
Place: Goalkeeper
Went with: 2020
Liverpool-born Levell was previously a starter for Everton in the WSL and first earned the gloves on Toffees while still a teenager in 2015. She wears jersey 28 for Leicester in memory of her deceased brother, who tragically died on 28 September 2015.
Lachante Paul is another Leicester forward produced at Arsenal Alex Pantling / Getty Images
Place: Wing / striker
Went with: 2019
Paul was only 17 when she was signed by Leicester in 2019, after already making her first team debut for Arsenal at 4pm.
Natasha Flint has been productive for Leicester this season Alex Pantling / Getty Images
Place: Striker
Went with: 2020
Being fired from his job in 2020 had a silver lining for Flint because the former youth candidate in Manchester City was able to train full-time as a football player again. It has since paid off massively with Leicester this season, with 16 goals in 18 appearances.
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