Women’s team in 2025: Laying the foundations for an exciting new era | OneFootball

A look back at 2025 for Manchester City's Women's first team.

After a managerial change, League Cup final defeat and disappointing fourth-placed WSL finish in 2024/25, City hit the reset button in the summer to beckon in a new era.

And that change has, so far, paid dividends, with Andrée Jegletz overseeing our strongest ever start to a league campaign in our professional era.

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New recruits have settled magnificently alongside a world class, highly motivated core of stars already at the Club, to ensure we end 2025 six points clear at the WSL summit.

With a League Cup semi-final against Chelsea also on the horizon in January, the second half of the current campaign could be one to remember.

But that potential success has been the culmination of the blood, sweat and tears from 2025, which we’ll review below…

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Second half of 2024/25

City came into the new year battling an unprecedented injury crisis, but new recruits across January helped to somewhat lighten that burden.

First through the door was Rebecca Knaak, fresh from a title-winning season in Sweden, and the centre-half immediately endeared herself to the City fans with a goal in the Manchester derby played at the Etihad in January 2025.

That clash, however, ended in a 4-2 defeat, with equally damaging home losses to Arsenal and Chelsea a key factor in City missing out on Champions League qualification.

A dramatic late victory over Arsenal in the League Cup semi-finals did prove to be a high point, though, with City’s battling performance against Chelsea in the final showing that, on another day, the trophy would have deservedly been going north rather than south from Pride Park.

That fixture was Nick Cushing’s first as Interim Manager, coming in to oversee the team following the departure of Gareth Taylor, but City’s injury issues would result in a disappointing end to the campaign, despite the team’s best efforts.

But there were plenty of reasons for excitement heading into 2025/26, with January signing Kerolin excelling in her first few months at the Club, Bunny Shaw retaining the WSL Golden Boot and the young talents such as Gracie Prior and Lily Murphy developing into first team regulars.

Summer activity

Fresh from overseeing Denmark at EURO 2025, Andrée Jeglertz was recruited to get City back competing at the top.

But it was a hugely successful summer for several of our players before attentions turned back to the Joie Stadium, with four members of the current City team helping England retain their European crown, and Kerolin doing the same for Brazil at the Copa America.

Iman Beney, one of six summer signings, was also one of several breakout stars for the home nation, while fellow new recruit Sydney Lohmann also helping Germany reach the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, highly rated centre-back Jade Rose joined following a hugely successful college career at Harvard Crimson, Eartha Cumings bolstered our goalkeeping options after success at FC Rosengard and Laura Wienroither’s loan spell from Arsenal was made permanent.

But there was still time for one more deal on transfer deadline day, with Grace Clinton switching red for blue and joining the Club from Manchester United, with Jess Park going the other way.

Much of City’s success in the first half of this season has been down to the excellent transition of all those players into life at the Club.

It all started with possibly the most difficult opening day fixture in the WSL, though – a trip to face reigning WSL champions Chelsea.

First half of 2025/26

Despite a fresh system and formation, City more than held our own at Stamford Bridge, but ultimately fell to a 2-1 defeat against the Londoners.

It was an exciting indication of what was to come, though – when this team clicked, they’d be difficult to stop.

Fast forward to December 2025, and the Blues have won ten WSL matches in a row as part of a 14-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

City recovered well from the Chelsea defeat to beat a battling Brighton side 2-1 in our opening home fixture of the season, as Shaw and Yui Hasegawa turned the game on its head in the second half.

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Another difficult away trip was next up for Jeglertz’s side, against a Tottenham Hotspur side yet to concede a goal in the WSL.

But a 5-1 win, with five different scorers including a debut strike for Clinton, showed City meant business this season.

Three successive home fixtures followed, with a 3-1 win in our opening League Cup Group A fixture over Everton, before putting four past London City Lionesses in a match where Hasegawa made her 100th appearance for the Club.

The pick of the bunch, though, and an indication of our ability to compete with the best in the business, came against Arsenal in early October.

A pulsating clash at the Joie Stadium saw City twice take the lead through Shaw and Kerstin Casparij, only for the Gunners to draw level through Mariona Caldentey and Chloe Kelly.

Former City winger Kelly’s strike with ten to play looked destined to earn Arsenal a share of the spoils but, as the rain began to pour, one final chance presented itself for the hosts, as Shaw teed up Beney.

The teenager made no mistake, rifling in at the near post to earn the Blues a deserved 3-2 win and grab her first City goal in the process.

Beney added another to her tally in a comeback win over Liverpool the following week, firing home to draw us level before Aoba Fujino completed the turnaround on Merseyside.

That stellar form saw Jeglertz named WSL Manager of the Month for October, and our 100% record would continue in November.

Four games in all competitions, four wins, just one goal conceded and a memorable Manchester derby win… City were hitting our stride.

Aoba Fujino’s goal was enough for a 1-0 win over West Ham United to kick-off the month, before a gutsy 2-1 victory at Everton moved us top of the table for the first time this season.

The crowning moment of a memorable November came at the Etihad Stadium, though, as goals from Knaak, Shaw and a stunning Lauren Hemp effort sealed a dominant 3-0 win over Manchester United.

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Another clean sheet would follow in our final match of the month, a 2-0 League Cup win at Nottingham Forest which, combined with a win at Everton and penalty triumph at Newcastle in October, sealed our spot as Group A winners.

It was a special month for City, with Jeglertz once again claiming the WSL Manager of the Month award, with Casparij deservedly named November’s Player of the Month.

Three more matches loomed ahead of the winter break, and the Blues found the net a remarkable 14 times in those fixtures.

Leicester made life difficult for City at the King Power Stadium, but a Shaw brace and smart Kerolin finish on her return from injury saw us win 3-0 in the final 15 minutes.

Shaw’s strikes moved her onto 99 for the Club, with much of the pre-match talk ahead of our final WSL clash of 2025 against Aston Villa centred around if she could become our first-ever 100-goal player.

Not content with one, the Jamaican grabbed four for good measure in a devastating display of attacking football which ended 6-1 to City on a day where Casparij also racked up a century of appearances for the Club.

It was a special afternoon for City, but one final fixture was on the horizon – a trip to West Ham United for a League Cup quarter-final.

Shaw found the net again, with Kerolin, Hemp, Clinton and Laura Coombs also on target in a 5-1 triumph to book our spot in the semi-finals.

With a ten-match winning run in the WSL, a six-point cushion at the summit and a League Cup semi-final berth to show for our efforts heading into the Christmas break, City fans will be seeing in the new year excited about what’s to come in 2026.

But Jeglertz and his players will have our sights set on the biggest present of them all heading into the second half of the campaign.

Time will tell if we can make that ambition a reality but one thing’s for certain: it’s going to be some journey.