Liverpool FC | A Starter Pack For New Fans, Part Two: Where We Are Now (The Women’s Team)

In the first part of this series, I gave you a crash course into where the Men’s team are at as they start their season. We’re two weeks into the Premier League campaign, the Men’s team have clawed back two points out of a potential six after drawing both matches. The transfer window is closed, and depending on who you ask, it was absolutely terrible or it was simply disappointing. There are many problems that were present last season that appear to not have been addressed so far, and it will take some time for Andoni Iraola’s ideas to take root in the squad. 

As a fan stepping into the community of Liverpool FC, you shouldn’t only focus on the Men’s team, because our Women’s team is just as engaging (and frustrating). 

Liverpool FC Women play in the Barclays Women’s Super League, also called the WSL, their campaign kicks off on Sunday, September 6th, as they travel to face newly promoted Charlton Athletic. 

This part of the starter pack will take a brief look at the history of the Women’s team, and a crash course into who they are now in this big year of 2026. They’ve had their own time of upheaval and grief in the past year, that often got overshadowed by the bad vibes surrounding the Men’s team last season, and I’m a firm believer in choosing to support a club means supporting all arms of that club. 

Women’s football in England has been through enough and though it is very much on the right track after the Lionesses have won the Euros (which is more than the men can say), there is still much to be done. If you followed me in the early stages of this blog, you know I have a lot of love and focus on the Women’s team, and if I can put a small spotlight on them through whatever small platform I have, I will do my best to do it. 

The history of the Women’s team is quite short because of this, so unlike the Men’s post, we’ll start with a little backstory to inform where the club are today. 

History

To understand the context of why it is such an uphill battle to support Women’s football in England, you have to first know that women had been banned from playing football in England for literally 50 years, from 1921 to 1971, after the popularity of the sport began to eclipse that of the men’s teams especially during the World Wars (if you want to know more about that, look up the Dick, Kerr Ladies). 

That ban was so complete and effective, the Women’s sport is still fighting against it’s effects to this day, and is a large part of why the game is so marginalized. To understand women’s football in England, this cannot be stressed enough. Girls were told they couldn’t play in school, they weren’t allowed in academies, and whole successful clubs were forced to disband. 

Liverpool FC Women were originally formed, independently, in 1989 as Newton LFC. They would rename to Knowsley United WFC two years later, and become one of the founding members of what was known then as the National Premier Division organized by the WFA (Women’s Football Association). The WFA disbanded in 1993 but were seen as the governing body of Women’s football in England for almost 30 years. 

It wouldn’t be until 1994 when Knowsley United would link with Liverpool FC and once again change their name, this time becoming Liverpool Ladies FC. (I know, I’m rolling my eyes too). 

Liverpool Ladies would struggle throughout their time in the National Premier Division, finishing runner’s up in the next two Women’s FA Cup by ultimately losing to Arsenal and Croydon. While they would maintain a place in the league for sometime, it wouldn’t be easy, and eventually the lack of investment and support from their larger partner would cause them to be relegated for the first time in 2003. It would be a yo-yo affair for quite some time, winning promotion in 2004 before being sent back down to the second division, and then back up again. 

This would remain the case until 2010 when Liverpool would become trailblazers once again, joining the founding clubs of what we now know as the Women’s Super League. 

Two years later, the club would appoint then-former Chelsea manager Matt Beard (remember this name) to steward the club with a two year contract, and Beard took control quickly and decisively. Beard let go of ten players in his first season and overhauled the squad, and became the first manager to sign women’s players to professional and full-time contracts, becoming the only team in 2013 with a fully professional squad. They would regularly practice at Melwood Training Ground alongside the Men’s team, and that treatment paid off. Liverpool Ladies won back to back titles in 2013 and 2014 under Beard’s guidance, ending years of Arsenal domination at the top of the table. 

Beard left the club in 2015 for the opportunity to manage the Boston Breakers here in the States, and it felt like all persistence and focus on the Women’s team went with him. The club fell into a steep decline following his departure, with a stream of managers trying to take his place and failing. Once again the old foe of lack of investment and support reared it’s head and Liverpool became a selling club, losing players like Lucy Bronze (don’t even ask how much we sold her for), Niamh Charles, Caroline Weir, Casey Stoney, Alex Greenwood, and Asisat Oshoala to newer or better funded clubs. 

The Ladies would be rebranded once again, this time into Liverpool FC Women, in 2018, but it was too little too late as the lack of focus led to them being relegated from the WSL for the first time since it’s creation in the 2019-2020 season. 

While there would be various back of house changes made, including appointing an executive director to the Women’s team and taking a place on the club’s board itself, the ship wouldn’t be righted again until Matt Beard would return to take over as manager in 2021, bringing back players like Gemma Bonner and Natasha Dowie who had played with him in those title winning seasons, to bring some sort of spirit back to the club. Once again Beard would spearhead a more focused investment in the Women’s team, helping move them to Melwood as their permanent training ground in 2023 after winning promotion back to the WSL in the 2021-22 season. 

Following a string of disappointing results in the 2024-2025 season, however, Beard would leave the club again in February 2025, and assistant coach Amber Whiteley took over in the interim before the appointment of Gareth Taylor later that summer. 

Present

Managers/Coaches

On September 20th, 2025, Matt Beard took his own life following months of struggling to find a suitable position (he was briefly at Burnley Women but left after two months). This kind of loss, similar to the loss of Diogo Jota for the Men’s side, rocked a squad already influx with a new coach and players. It cannot be overstated what Beard meant to the Women’s club, and how much he did to bring them to where they are now. 

Gareth Taylor, former manager of Manchester City Women, was appointed head coach in the same fashion as Arne Slot for the Men’s team, although from an outsider’s point of view it was an overdue and not well considered appointment. Taylor had had some high profile controversies surrounding some of his players at Manchester City, with claims of a negative coaching style polarizing much of that squad. 

Taylor brought with him a high press and structured playing style to Liverpool Women, and said himself it would take some time to implement, but also did not hesitate to throw the players under the bus in the press in the early days of his tenure. 

Liverpool failed to win any of their opening twelve matches last season, gaining only six points, but would improve following the winter break to gather eleven points from their next seven matches. Despite all that, they finished 11th in the league, and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. 

Taylor was outspoken about his need for investment in the team throughout the season, leading to the signatures of various new players - mostly coming in the January window - to support the intense playing style he required. As of the summer preseason campaign coming to an end, the Women have won all five of their summer matches, including a 2-1 win over Manchester United two weeks ago, so hopes are high for the upcoming season.

Players To Know

Captain

The WSL doesn’t have a set rule for vice-captains like the Premier League, so here you’ll meet defender Grace Fisk. Fisk joined Liverpool in July 2023, reuniting with former manager Beard after a spell at West Ham United. 

Fisk is 28 and got her start through the Millwall Lionesses youth academy, and went on to play college soccer for United States colleges Penn State and University of South Carolina before coming back to England. 

Fisk wears the number four, as does Virgil van Dijk, and signed a new contract to stay with the Reds in April 2025, as most women are only given short term contracts throughout their careers. She was given the armband by Gareth Taylor following the departure of former captain Niamh Fahey at the end of the 2024-25 season, and was named Club Person of the Year at the Players' Player of the Year awards last year. 

She’s made 58 total appearances for Liverpool in her time with the club, and has an Iron Woman endurance, previously having played every minute of her seasons with West Ham. 

Midfield and Forwards

Arguably one of the most important players in the squad is Welsh midfielder Ceri Holland. Signed in 2021, she started her career in the Manchester City academy system before joining the Reds and following successful college career with the University of Kansas, once again in the United States. 

Regularly known as the engine of the squad, Holland is determined and driven, she has made over 100 appearances for the Red Women so far, and signed a new contract to stay with the club in June 2025, solidifying her place for a good bit yet. Holland plays with a strength in the central midfield that really does keep everyone going, and has scored her fair share of goals because of it, even earning herself Goal of the Season last year for scoring against forever rivals Everton.

Alongside Holland is a delightful partnership with Japanese international Fuka Nagano. Nagano signed with Liverpool in January of 2023 from the North Carolina Courage, and made her competitive debut a few weeks later in a semi-final match of the FA WSL Cup. If Holland is strength and steadiness, Nagano is creativity, finding space and making chances so that the forwards can find the back of the net. She also extended her stay with Liverpool in August 2025, so we have a little more time to enjoy this focused partnership. 

As for the forwards, the delight of the past year has been Beata Olsson. Gareth Taylor’s first summer signing, Olsson became the first player to score in our of her first five WSL starts, and earning herself the top scorer for Liverpool’s season with 11 goals in all competitions. Though the season was pocked by some injuries, Olsson shows no signs of stopping after scoring a hat trick in their last preseason match against Durham over this past weekend. 

Another midfielder to watch will be young Zara Shaw, an academy product who made her senior debut with Liverpool in May 2024 and signed her first professional contract August 2025 ahead of the 2025-26 season. Though most of her senior development has been hampered by two ACL injuries, Shaw is fit and ready to be molded for Taylor’s ideal system, and hopefully those fixed knees can handle the pressure. 

New Signings

This summer Liverpool Women have made six new signings to fill some various holes in the squad following summer departures like Gemma Bonner. 

Defender Sara Agrez joined Liverpool as the first incoming body from Cologne in July 2026, to play primarily the center-back role vacated by Bonner and Gemma Evans. Preferring to play on the left half of center, Agrez has played more than 50 times for the Slovenian national team and spent much of her career in the Frauen-Bundesliga at Wolfsburg and Turbine Potsdam before Cologne and now Liverpool. 

Joining Agrez is fullback Mari Ward, joining Liverpool as a free agent after the expiration of her contact with Bristol City. Also preferring the left side of the defensive line, Ward is a product of Bristol’s own youth system, making her senior debut with Plymouth Argyle in 2022. Despite the left sided preference, Ward can also be utilized on the right side should we need it, and knowing Liverpool’s history with injuries we just might. She calls herself “an attacking fullback” and prefers to get forward and join in on the attack - a perfect skill for a high press situation. 

Another free transfer came in the form of goalkeeper Khiara Keating, reunited with her former Manchester City coach in Taylor. Keating won the Golden Glove award in the 2023-24 WSL season and helped secure City’s WSL title and a FA Cup double for the blues of Manchester. At 22, she will be an asset to our aging ‘keepers union, as Rachael Laws stares down the barrel of potential retirement. 

The free transfers kept coming, as Vivien Endemann joined following the expiration of her contract with VfL Wolfsburg. Another striker, Endemann scored 15 goals in 60 appearances for the German club last season, and though she has made promising showings during the preseason efforts, won’t make her debut for Liverpool until the season starts. 

Adding to the midfield is Natalia Ramos, a Spaniard from TD Tenerife that prefers to play deep defensively. Her first time playing out of the country, Ramos made 200 appearances for Tenerife, scoring 10 goals and racking up 5 assists. It should be noted that a defensive player is not meant to score goals, so expecting more of her is unrealistic, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to have it in her locker. 

Lastly, we have another Japanese international to join Fuka in Mao Itamura. 20 year old Itamura spent her youth career with JFA Academy Fukushima before moving to Feyenoord for the 2025-26 season. Playing as a forward, she scored 10 goals in 30 appearances for the Dutch club and was recently chosen for the Japan U20 World Cup squad. 

Watching And Following The WSL

Due to the obstacles of simply being a Women’s football fan in 2026, it’s not easy to watch or follow matches. Women’s football will always be an investment and though support of it is growing all the time, and even recently at a faster rate, it is still difficult to find ways to watch the matches when you can’t physically be there. 

The Liverpool Women play at the recently renamed Brewdog Stadium in St. Helen’s, Merseyside, England. It is a multi-purpose stadium and also home to a rugby team. The Red Women started playing there in 2024 after signing a 10 year deal, and went through a bit of a renovation to accommodate both clubs. It has a capacity of 18,000 and tickets are readily available through the Liverpool website. Even if you are out of town, the season tickets are an affordable way to support the Women’s team. 

Every season there is a handful of matches played at Anfield, historic home of the Men’s team, and it usually includes a Merseyside Derby (against Everton), and one or two of the other “Big Six” teams. The Women’s record at Anfield, despite the historic turnouts, is not something to be proud of, though, and while other clubs are using their Men’s stadiums full time, we are still only given a few matches here and there. 

Watching abroad gets a little harder. The WSL website isn’t even a lot of help either, but if you’re located in the US it appears that Paramount+ will be showing all 183 matches of the league play live, marking a significant shift away from waiting to see if your club would be streaming it on YouTube. Granted, it does come with the subscription paywall, and one might still be able to stream matches on YouTube. 

The club’s coverage itself of the matches does leave much to be desired, as they just don’t get the same treatment as even the boys academy matches. You can follow along in the LFC app, and on the website, and sometimes they have audio commentary where you can listen if you’re not able to watch, but most of the time, finding a more official stream is in your best interest. 

The most important thing is to be there, to be involved, and to show your support. Even in 2026, the Women’s team still needs your support, probably now more than ever, as Liverpool struggle to close the gulf in talent that the other teams have opened up since we set the path.