Manchester United head of women’s football outlines ‘ultimate ambition’ for club | OneFootball

Manchester United head of women’s football Matt Johnson has described winning the Champions League as an ‘ultimate ambition’ for his club. 

United struggled in the WSL over the weekend but they have no time to dwell on their loss to Aston Villa as the club returns to Champions League action.

The Red Devils continue their European journey on Tuesday when they welcome PSG to Old Trafford.

Manchester United’s ultimate ambition

Ahead of his club’s clash against PSG this week, Matt Johnson discussed his hopes for United going forward

“We have progressed over the last 12-18 months, and you have seen the team evolve and develop,” he said. “We need to use this as the catalyst and not the endpoint.

“For us, we are now in Europe, we are doing well, and we want to maximise the exposure opportunity that gives us so we can improve the squad even further. We can go deeper in these competitions, and the ultimate ambition is to win it one day.

The Red Devils can already look back on a historic season regardless of how far they advance in Europe this year.

Marc Skinner’s team made it into the Champions League for the first time in 2025 after beating PSV Eindhoven and Brann in qualifiers.

United have won both of their league phase games so far against Valerenga and Atletico Madird.

Could Manchester United women move to Old Trafford?

Johnson also discussed another goal for United, as the women’s team aims to move into Old Trafford permanently in the next few years. 

“What we want to do first of all is to make sure that we are creating a really good experience and having crowds full is better than having a few in a massive stadium. The first real target is, if we think we can get more than the 12,000 that we have at Leigh Sports Village then we will take it to Old Trafford.

“So the Manchester derby is always at Old Trafford because we know, as we have proven, that we can get 30-40,000 there so we will take it there. For us, it is about growing the game in a sustainable way where we are starting to get 10-12,000 in every week at Leigh because then it becomes a case that now we can grow the game and take it to Old Trafford.

“We would love to be in a situation where we have grown the core fanbase so much that we have outgrown 12,000 and we are needing to go to a bigger stadium.”

United are lagging behind the competition when it comes to their women’s team facilities

Arsenal already play all of their WSL home games at the Emirates Stadium. Other teams like Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton all play the occasional game at their club stadiums and United could be the latest to follow suit.