Miedema back in matchday squad for FA Cup final

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Manchester City Women

·31 May 2026

Miedema back in matchday squad for FA Cup final

Vivianne Miedema has returned to the City matchday squad for our FA Cup final clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.

The Dutch international is available for the first time since our 3-0 win over Manchester United in late March, when she grabbed a brace at Old Trafford.

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She missed the end of the WSL campaign for personal reasons but has been named among the substitutes at Wembley Stadium.

Elsewhere, Ayaka Yamashita, Rebecca Knaak, Kerstin Casparij and Kerolin also return to the starting XI ahead of our 15:00 (UK) kick-off.

Teams

Brighton XI: Nnadozie, Catano, Minami, Symonds (C), Cankovic, Seike, Kirby, Hayes, Olislagers, Haley, Rule

Brighton Subs: Baggaley, Mpome, Kafaji, Noordam, Rayner, Tvedten, Carrillo, McLauchlan, Tsunoda

City XI: Yamashita, Rose, Knaak, Greenwood (C), Casparij, Blindkilde Brown, Hasegawa, Hemp, Kerolin, Clinton, Shaw.

City Subs: Cumings, Coombs, Fowler, Miedema, Ouahabi, Fujino, Lohmann, Prior, Murphy

How we line up

As always, Andrée Jeglertz’s system is free-flowing and adaptable, with the team regularly changing shape both in and out of possession.

Jade Rose, Knaak and Greenwood will likely marshal the backline alongside Casparij, though the Dutch international and Greenwood should also have opportunities to push up and support the attack.

Laura Blindkilde Brown and Yui Hasegawa will continue as our midfield duo, with Lauren Hemp out on the left and Kerolin expected to start on the right flank.

That leaves Grace Clinton with another opportunity to float in and out of the ten position and support both our midfield unit and centre-forward Bunny Shaw, a role she excelled at against West Ham two weeks ago.

Miedema’s impact

The WSL’s record scorer has enjoyed a fantastic campaign in Blue and will rightly be in the conversation for a spot in the PFA Team of the Season.

Her 13 goals and five assists is the best return in the City team aside from Shaw, but her influence in dictating the tempo of our attacking play goes far beyond her contributions at the sharp end.

One of the most experienced players in the squad, Miedema thrives on big occasions such as this, and Jeglertz having the opportunity to introduce her from the bench, as well as Mary Fowler and Aoba Fujino in particular, could prove to be an ace up our Head Coach’s sleeve.

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One more step

City’s battling 3-2 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final just four days after we sealed the WSL title was testament to the professionalism and quality of this current squad.

Should the Blues get the better of Brighton this afternoon, then we’ll have sealed a WSL and FA Cup double for the first time in our history.

It certainly won’t be easy against a Seagulls side who beat City in April’s WSL meeting and also took points off Manchester United and Arsenal in the final weeks of the campaign, but Jeglertz’s side are motivated to make history and finish a special 2025/26 in style.

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Match Stats

This will be the second Women’s FA Cup meeting between City and Brighton, with City progressing through a fourth round tie in 2017-18, winning 2-0 away to then second tier Brighton.
Brighton will contest their first ever Women’s FA Cup final – the last three final debutants have lost without scoring, including West Ham United to City in 2019 (0-3).
This will be City’s fifth Women’s FA Cup final, and first since losing 3-2 after extra-time to Chelsea in 2021-22; the Blues have won each of their other three finals, in 2017 (4-1 vs Birmingham), 2019 (3-0 vs West Ham) and 2020 (3-1 vs Everton).
City will be aiming to become the third team to win the Women’s Super League and the Women’s FA Cup in the same season after Arsenal (2011) and Chelsea (6 times, 2015, 2017-18, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2024-25) – the WSL winners have never lost when competing in the FA Cup final in the same campaign.
This will be City’s ninth final since the 2017-18 season in all competitions (4 FA Cup, 4 League Cup, 1 Community Shield), with only Chelsea (14) playing in more in that period.
Brighton have won 13 games in all competitions this season, their most in a campaign since first becoming a WSL side in 2018-19 – since then, 2025-26 is the Seagulls’ best season for both highest win rate (43%) and lowest loss rate (40%).
In Brighton’s Dario Vidosic (Australia) and City’s Andrée Jeglertz (Sweden), this will be the first ever Women’s FA Cup final to be contested by two non-British managers.
Brighton’s Fran Kirby (2018 and 2021 for Chelsea) and City’s Lauren Hemp (2019 and 2022) have each scored in two Women’s FA Cup finals previously – the only player to net in three different finals in the WSL era is Chelsea’s Sam Kerr (2021, 2022, 2023).
City’s Iman Beney has five assists in her last three Women’s FA Cup appearances, the most of any WSL player in this season’s edition – the 19-year-old has 10 assists in all competitions in 2025-26, which is also the joint-most of any WSL player (also Melvine Malard).