For Europe, we look at Wrexham AFC Women’s side after their three match tour against American youth sides this summer, which shows the gap that their North American owners need to reduce to ultimately be able to qualify for and compete in UEFA’s Women’s Champions League, a stated goal of their North American owners.
Inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup for 2024-25 commences
Vancouver Whitecaps advances over host Alianza of El Salvador in the preliminary match; we also have results from the first set of four group matches.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite defeated Alianza of El Salvador 1-0 in the one leg preliminary match at Estadio Cuscatlan in San Salvador, El Salvador in the first ever match of the inaugural CONCACAF W Champions Cup regional club competition on August 15. This is CONCACAF’s first official continental competition for women’s clubs, which the confederation defines as: “A key strategic move for the growth of women’s football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.” The winner (at least, though more clubs could qualify) will advanced to the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup that will be staged in January and February of 2026.
The Champions Cup games will be telecast in the U.S. on CBS Sports/Paramount+ in English and ESPN Deportes in Spanish; in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, matches will be broadcast on ESPN. For all other territories, including Canada, the competition will be available on CONCACAF’s Official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/concacaf).
The winning goal for Vancouver came in the 25th minute when Canadian youth international Kaylee Hunter (16) was taken down in the box. Midfielder Emily Wong (17) scored from the subsequent penalty kick for the first ever goal in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup play. The Whitecaps only had 38% of the possession of play compared to 62% for Alianza but did lead in shots (11 vs. 9), shots on goal (4 vs. 3) and corner kicks (6 vs. 4). Hunter scored a hat-trick in the third place match at the CONCACAF U-17 Championships in February in a 4-1 win over Haiti in Toluca, Mexico. Mexico defeated Canada in the semifinal 2-1 in extra time to qualify along with the champions U.S. and host Dominican Republic for this fall’s U-17 WWC.
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite were selected by CONCACAF to the eleven team event (even though they are an amateur youth academy side) by becoming the 2023 Champions of League1 in the Canadian Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship for top level amateur provincial leagues around the country. Primarily based on home-developed U-19 talent through their academy, the Whitecaps have recently supplemented their team with experienced talent ahead of the CONCACAF matches and as they join the new second division professional Canadian Northern Super League for next season (but with its own branding, name and colors—see more below).
The Whitecaps Women’s program does come from a rich tradition at the club in women’s football—winning W League titles in 2004 and 2006 and were runners-up in 2001 and 2010. At one time, essentially the Whitecaps were also the Canadian Women’s National Team in training under former head coach Even Pellerud. Eight-time champions in El Salvador, Alianza FC were champions of the Apertura 2023 and Clausura 2024 campaigns.
Whitecaps FC Elite Girls is essentially an U-19 team and has been the youngest side in the seven team Vancouver regional loop League1 BC and one of the youngest in League1 Canada—which is comprised of the winners of three other provincial leagues including British Colombia, seven teams in League1 Alberta, ten teams in the Premier Division of League1 Ontario and 12 teams in League1 Quebec—and have consistently performed above expectations, particularly as typically League1 teams field college players and ex-professionals, so they weren’t intimidated by the move up to the regional championship tournament.
Entering the new regional event, the Whitecaps side has won the last two BC League1 regular season crowns, the last three playoff titles and the last two inter-provincial national championships. In 2023, they also won the FIFA Blue Stars Youth Cup in Switzerland, an annual eight team invitational tournament for U-21 teams. Vancouver defeated Swiss sides on penalties after 1-1 ties in the semifinal and final, over FC Zurich (5-3 on penalties) and Basel (5-4 on penalties), respectively The Whitecaps League1 BC women’s team had compiled a 28-game unbeaten streak (24-4-0) after their win in El Salvador and had not lost a competitive match in more than a year, since June 11, 2023.
Two of Vancouver’s home grown players are Mya Archibald, who played at the U-17 and U-20 CONCACAF Championships and at the 2022 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India for Canada; she is a junior this fall at the University of Illinois. Jeneva Hernandez-Gray also appeared for Canada at the U-17 and U-20 levels and won the 2023 Whitecaps FC Female Most Promising Player honors. Hernandez-Gray also was brought into a senior Canada WNT team for friendlies last year and is a freshman this fall at Auburn University in Alabama.
Whitecaps head coach Katie Collar—who came West in April of 2022 from Calgary where, among other jobs, she was an assistant coach at the University of Calgary and coached Alberta’s women’s team at the Canada Summer Games in 2022 after playing at Eastern Kentucky University—started seven teenagers against Alianza. She also brought in some experienced players to boost the squad:
Wingback Jourdan Ziff (26) grew up in Southern California, played at the University of Loyola-Los Angeles and professionally with NJS in Finland’s third tier, Puerto Rico Sol and Santos in Brazil in 2023 before joining the Whitecaps this summer.
Midfielder Josie Longhurst (22) is a native of Wales and played last season with Reading FC in the English Championship, but the club had financial problems which forced them to controversially withdraw from the Championship in the off-season to join the Southern Region Women’s Football League in the English fifth tier. Longhurst also played with Cardiff City, WSL side Brighton and Hove Albion in 2020 and with Lewes FC in their academy and in the division two Championship. She has played for Wales at the U-17 and U-19, scoring in a U-17 international 2-0 win over Albania’s U-19 team in 2017-18 European qualifying. The midfielder was most recently part of the Wales squad for the Nations League games against Germany and Denmark last October.
Canadian youth international forward Jessica De Filippo (23) played at the Universities of Louisville and Arkansas and then with the Chicago Red Stars Reserves in 2021 before going to Europe to play with Turbine Potsdam of Germany and last season with Sporting Huelva of Spain.
Defender Brianne Reed (30) played at Rutgers University in New Jersey and then with Kansas City in the NWSL and in Sweden, Denmark, in Australia with South Melbourne FC at the State level and in Portugal with Damaiense in 2024; she has played international for Dominican Republic.
Goalkeeper Dakota Beckett plays at the University of British Colombia in Vancouver.
Goalkeeper Morgan McAslan plays at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Whitecaps are moving up to the fully professional Northern Super League (see more below) next year and will undoubtedly bring in even more experienced players, but this is a good first step for the Whitecaps and Canada Soccer in a new club competition, particularly after the nightmare publicity of the summer Olympics WNT coaching spying scandal (see more in last week’s column: The Week in Women's Football: Olympics review; is it the end?; Marsch intervention in Canada drone storm - TribalFootball.com).
The Whitecaps went to Hamiton, Ontario this summer for the 2024 Inter-Provincial championships, where they defeated League1 Alberta’s Calgary Blizzard 2-0 in the semi-finals—with De Filippo scoring both goals—before downing Ligue1 Québec’s CS Mont-Royal Outremont on penalties (3-2) in the final, after drawing 2-2. CSMRO scored first in the 23rd minute as a high ball from Shayla He (University of Montreal) found Anais Naila Oularbi (University of Alabama-Birmingham) on a deep run who chipped the ball over goalkeeper Morgan McAslan.
Whitecaps FC’s Quinn Johnson (17) was taken down in the box in the 36th minute and Canadian U-17 international Kaylee Hunter scored to tie the score. In the second half, CSMRO took the lead again in the 58th minute. Osamede Iyare (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) assisted Joëlle Gosselin’s (who played at McGill University in Montreal, Foothills WFC in the summer in Calgary and in Finland with Jyvaskylan Pallokerho) goal for the 2-1 lead. Whitecaps FC replied in the 64th minute as Hunter got her brace. Penalties saw Whitecaps win 3-2 and take the Inter-Provincial championship for a second year in a row.
In 2023, at the Inter-Provincial championships in 2023 at home in Langley B.C., Vancouver defeated Alliance United FC of Ontario 2-1 in the semifinal and then blasted League1 Quebec champion Programme Excel Feminin (PEF)—which is part of MLS side CF Montreal’s academy—5-0, with goals by Kierra Blundell (who is a freshman at Arizona State University and scored in her first game this fall in a 1-1 tie versus Northern Arizona on August 16), Emma Yee (a freshman this fall at the University of Illinois), Jeneva Hernandez-Gray (Auburn University) and a brace by Joy Kimwemwe (University of South Florida).
CONCACAF W Champions Cup First Group Stage Matches
The Group Stage for the W Champions Cup includes two groups of five clubs each, with each team playing every club in its group once, for a total of four matches per club (two at home and two away). At the conclusion of Group Stage play, the two group winners and two runners-up will progress to the Finals in May of 2025 at a centralized location to be determined (see more about the tournament in our column earlier this year: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL ins/outs as Houston welcome coach Alonso from Celtic - Tribal Football). The groups are as follows:
Group A: NJ/NY Gotham FC (USA), Tigres Femenil (MEX), CF Monterrey Femenil (MEX), LD Alajuelense (CRC), and Frazsiers Whip Football Limited (JAM).
Group B: San Diego Wave FC (USA), Portland Thorns FC (USA), Club America Femenil (MEX), Santa Fe FC (PAN), and Vancouver Whitecaps (CAN).
In the first set of games in the group stage of the W Champions Cup on August 20, in Group A, Alajuelense of Costa Rica got off to a very good start at home with a 5-0 win over Frazsiers Whip of Jamaica, as Costa Rican international Anyela Mesen (21) scored a brace. On August 22, the first Monterrey derby of the 2024-25 season was staged with UANL hosting Monterrey Rayadas at the Estadio Universitario.
Tigres ran out 4-0 winners, with first half goals by American-born Mexican international midfielder Maricarmen Reyes (24), Spain’s 2023 WWC-winning forward Jenni Hermoso (34) and South African midfielder Thembi Kgatlana (28), while Mexican international Cristina Ferral (31) added a fourth. Ferral joined Tigres in 2018 and has played over 220 games with the club; prior to that she played at the University of South Florida and in 2017-18 for Olympique Marseille in France. Mexican internationals Lizbeth Ovalle (24) and Sandra Stephany Mayor (32), who played four seasons with KA in Iceland from 2016 through 2019, each added two assists. It is early days in group play which continues until late October but Tigres looked very good indeed and should make the semifinals with 2023 NWSL Champions NJ/NY Gotham FC from this group.
In Group B, the first game involving a NWSL team took place in Panama City, Panama as the San Diego Wave downed Sante Fe 2-0 in a game that was very close and turned early on a goalkeeping error by Panamanian international Yenith Bailey after only 82 seconds. Mexican international Maria Sanchez scored by following up the play after U.S. international Alex Morgan played a cross into the box that Bailey fumbled.
The Wave doubled the lead in the 63rd minute when Swedish international defender Hanna Lundkvist sent a pinpoint cross to the far post where former U.S. youth international Kristen McNabb (who played at the University of Virginia and one season with Melbourne Victory in 2017-18 and is in her eighth NWSL season), powered a header into the goal.
Bailey, the captain of her side, played in last year’s WWC and has been a notable up-and-coming young goalkeeper for years; she settled down after a nervy first 20 minutes of the first half. San Diego also was playing their first game under their new interim head coach and former U.S. international Landon Donovan, who was appointed a few days before the trip. We will discuss Donovan’s appointment in our next NWSL regular season review later this fall.
There were only a few hundred people in the stands but the stadium grass looked beautiful at the Estadio Rommel Fernandez national stadium in Panama City. This game was not all one-sided for the NWSL 2023 regular season champions as they had just a slightly better possession statistic (54% vs. 46%) than Santa Fe, who had six shots to 11 for San Diego, but only one was on target compared with six for the Wave.
All said though, international club competitions are not easy and San Diego had another new interim coach (their second) after firing Casey Stoney earlier in the season and a long flight to Panama, so coming home with three points should be considered a good start. For San Diego, 16-year-old midfielder Melanie Barcenas earned her first start of the season. Canadian international goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and Australian international midfielder Emily van Egmond returned to the lineup for the first time since playing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Santa Fe did better than expected and it was a positive sign for their national teams’ program as well, with Santa Fe home to many Panamanian international including Bailey, defender Maria Murillo (27), midfielder Schiandra Gonzalez (29) and fellow midfielder Maria Guevara (23). Their new Argentinian head coach Fernando Clavero (36), who joined the club in July of 2024 and led the side to their first LFF (Liga de Futbol Femenino) league title of Panama in the 2024 Apertura, brought in compatriot Camila Vallejos (20) as well as other imports:
Defender Vasthy Delgado (30) of El Salvador; she is a full international with El
Salvador but grew up in the States, playing at Towson State University and recently
with Virginia Marauders FC of the W League. She was with the Bronze Medal-
winning El Salvadorian women’s side at San Salvador’s 2023 Central American and
Caribbean Games.
Midfielder Nuria Mayqueling Marquez (24) of Nicaragua is a full international.
Midfielder Hannah Lee (23) of Nicaragua, who grew up in the States in South Dakota
and played at Salt Lake Community College and Utah Valley University; she played
earlier this year with Santos in Brazil—she also is a full Nicaraguan international.
Midfielder Erika Largo (30) of Colombia, who has played the last three seasons
(2022-2024) with Deportivo Pereira in Colombia.
In the other Group B match held the next day, Club America of Mexico City hosted the Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite side on August 21 and the Aguilas brought the ‘Caps back down to earth, building a 4-0 lead within the first half-hour. América would add three more goals in the second half, one from Spanish World Cup winner Irene Guerrero (27)—who played with Manchester United last season and won the Women’s World Cup in 2023 with Spain—among the seven different goal scorers in an emphatic 7-0 win for the Mexico City giant.
America led in possession (57% vs 43%) to Vancouver and peppered the Whitecaps with shots (24 vs. 1) and also led in shots on goals (8 vs. 1). To be fair, Whitecaps were playing at altitude in Mexico City compared to their Pacific Coast home city. America showed the gap between a championship caliber (two-time league champions), fully professional side in a top league and the young amateurs from Western Canada.
Whitecaps FC head coach Katie Collar made three changes against Club America from the Preliminary Round match in El Salvador, including starting Mya Archibald, who joined back up with the squad from the University of Illinois and will soon be on her way to represent Canada at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia this month, alongside Whitecap teammates Jaime Perrault (18) and Jeneva Hernandez Gray (18). Note: Clare Logan (University of Notre Dame) played for the Whitecaps this season and is also on Canada’s U-20 Women’s World Cup team in Colombia this month.
Canada’s Northern Super League News
In other news from Canada, their new professional tier 2 Northern Super League, which starts next year with six teams, announced that Ottawa will be known as the Ottawa Rapid FC. Team CEO Tom Gilbert named former Canadian WNT member Kristina Kiss as the team’s Technical Director. Kiss (43), a native of Ottawa, had 75 caps for the national team under head coach Even Pellerud (who coached Canada from 2000-2008) and played in the W League with the Ottawa Fury and in Norway with IF Floya and Amazona Grimstad.
She was on the WWC Finals teams in 2003 (a fourth place finish in the U.S.) and in 2007 in China as well as a member of Canada’s first ever Olympic Games Finals side in China in 2008 where they made the quarterfinals—which Even Pellerud once told this reporter at the end of his tenure with Canada in an exclusive interview that qualifying for the Olympic Games Finals was what he was most proud of during his eight years in charge in Canada, even more so than the semifinals berth in the 2003 WWC. Kiss also won second place at the Pan American Games in Dominican Republic in 2003 and third at the next edition in 2007 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Gilbert discussed the process of selecting the name: “Looking across the landscape, we identified two distinct naming conventions, one (North American) that focused on iconography and mascots: Lions, Tigers, Kraken, Fire, and another that focused on places and team identifiers: United, Sporting, etc. We wanted to find a place between these two, something that gave us some iconography, but wasn’t completely grounded in something outside the game, but also something that was really connected to place and spoke to the emotion of what we were building. Rapid is a name that came up early in discussions and hung around….It triggers such a great visceral reaction, the speed, the motion, the progress; but has this double meaning that’s deeply connected to the city and the geology of the Ottawa Valley.”
The team detailed more specifics on the badge and logo:
The badge represents a Peregrine Falcon, native to Ottawa and the fastest animal on earth.
The falcon is drawn in an attack position to set the stage for who the club is.
The symmetry of the wings is a nod to the structure and formations on the field, and the negative space between the wings is representative of Ottawa’s three main rivers, the Ottawa, the Rideau and Gatineau.
The circular crest, and concentric circles of the badge are a nod to the “O” of the Canadian capital city of Ottawa.
AFC Toronto has appointed Marko Milanovic as their Head Coach and Sylvia Forbes as the Assistant Coach for the 2025 debut season. Milanovic was the head coach in League1 Ontario’s Premier Division with North Toronto Soccer and an assistant at Toronto Metropolitan University. Forbes comes from Ajax Soccer Club (in the Toronto area) and played at Purdue University and for Canada at the U-15, U-17 and U-20 levels. Billy Wilson also comes from North Toronto Soccer Club and will be the team’s Sporting Director.
Vancouver has also unveiled its name, brand and logo for the 2025 NSL season. The club will be known as Vancouver Rise FC.
The Vancouver Rise FC name, according to a team press release, represents the dawning of a new era in soccer. The logo represents Vancouver’s three iconic mountains that overlook the city—Cypress Mountain, Grouse Mountain, and Mount Seymour. A rising sun connects: “the BC province and the stars that will shine for the club.” The six rays highlight the league’s six member clubs, while: “The shield-like shape symbolizes the sense of unity and tradition, with a rising V to represent the journey of the players, who continuously push themselves to new heights, overcoming challenges and striving for excellence on and off the field.”
The team will utilize three colors: Teal, which represents the beauty of British Colombia, Gold to denote Vancouver’s summer sunsets, and Black to symbolize the depth of the Pacific Ocean.
Wrexham AFC of Wales Women’s Team tour of the U.S. this summer
Wrexham AFC’s Women’s Team toured the U.S. in July. Wrexham AFC’s owners are actors Canadian-American Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool” among others) and American Rob McElhenney (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), who took over the fifth division National League men’s team ahead of the 2021 season and the club has won promotions the past two seasons, first to League 2 and then to League 1 in English Football’s four tier system.
The club has a global fan base because of their FX Series “Welcome to Wrexham” documenting their ownership journey in the club, as well as players, coaches and the passionate local fan base. The Wrexham AFC Women’s team has been featured as well and was promoted to the Welsh top league for the 2023-24 season, for which they finished third in their first season with a 9-2-3 (W-D-L) record for 29 points, three points behind second place Swansea City (32 points) and eight points behind Cardiff City (37 points). They were a founding member of the Welsh Premier League, which they participated in from 2011-12 to 2015-16, when they had to withdraw mid-season due to a lack of players. They played in the Welsh regional leagues before being promoted back to the Welsh Premier—now Adran Women’s Premier League—ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Wrexham AFC Women’s U.S. Tour’s title sponsor was Ally, a financial services company that is America’s largest all-digital bank and a leading brand in women’s sports, including sponsoring the NWSL. With Ally’s support, the goal was to help elevate Wrexham AFC Women’s presence globally, accelerating its ambitions of becoming a top club worldwide. Ally was also a sponsor of the Men’s Wrexham U.S. West Coast Tour, where the men’s team played AFC Bournemouth (1-1) in Santa Barbara, Chelsea (2-2) in Santa Clara, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC (4-1) in Vancouver B.C. in front of a record crowd in the MLS era, and with Reynolds—in his hometown—and McElhenney in attendance.
Wrexham AFC Women manager Steve Dale said: “Having heard the stories around the Men’s tour last season (in the summer of 2023 to the States—losing to Chelsea 5-0 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, defeating L.A. Galaxy II 4-0 in Carson, CA, defeating a Manchester United XI in San Diego and tying the Philadelphia Union II 1-1 in Chester, Pennsylvania), it is great that the Women’s team will have the same opportunity. The time it will provide us to prepare for the upcoming league campaign will be vital in our quest to improve on our third position.”
The Women’s team’s three matches this summer began with two games in Los Angeles against SoCal FC on July 19th at UCLA and Tigres Femenil Under-19’s, again at UCLA on July 21, before a final match in Portland against Portland Thorns Academy on July 26 at Providence Park.
SoCal FC defeated Wrexham 9-0 to start the tour. SoCal FC was founded in January 2015 and is a ProAm developmental team that represented Southern California in the WPSL in past years and is now playing year round in UPSL-Women (effectively a fourth tier amateur loop. SoCal FC’s mission is: “to foster the development of future domestic and international footballers on and off the field while providing soccer fans in Southern California a unique opportunity to support the growth of the beautiful game played in (an) attractive playing style.”
Wrexham did better in the second game as they fell to Mexico’s Tigres Femenil U-19’s by a 6-1 score; they went into the half-time break down 5-0. Carra Jones (23) scored Wrexham’s only goal of the American tour in the 70th minute and scored eight goals in 16 matches last season in the Welsh Premier League (see more on Jones below).
The final match in Portland saw Wrexham break their previous record attendance with 10,379 at Providence Park, surpassing the 9,511 fans in Wrexham at the iconic Racecourse, which first hosted an international game in 1877, who turned out to see the Reds defeat Connah’s Quay Nomads last year. Wrexham lost to the Thorns’ Juniors 7-0.
These results show the gap level between the semi-professional Women’s League in Wales and top youth sides in North America. Reynolds and McElhenney have said that their goal for the women’s side is the same as for the men, which is to win the league and play in Europe.
Over the next two weeks we will look at the first round of matches in the 2024-25 UEFA Women’s Champions League—with Cardiff City participating this year—with Welsh sides frequently struggling against fully professional or larger budget sides from Western and Eastern Europe, who can add top local players and professional from abroad. This is the future scenario for Wrexham to reach its goals but this summer tour was a good first step for a reality check of where they are and what they need to do in order to compete eventually in the WCL.
Wrexham AFC is almost entirely Welsh-based and generally utilizes younger players with a smattering of Wales youth internationals, and a few playing in the past at English clubs—including Liverpool, where current Wrexham coach Steve Dale was for seven years, working with various age groups within their Regional Talent Centers.
One veteran is former Wales youth international goalkeeper, Del Morgan, who returned to Wrexham in 2021 ahead of the club’s inaugural Genero Adran North campaign after they started to play again. Morgan played for the former Wrexham Ladies team as a teenager in the Women’s Welsh Premier, and was part of the side which reached the FAW Women’s Cup semi-finals in 2015 before the team folded. She was a part of Liverpool’s academy and then signed for Everton in the WSL, but never played in a game. Morgan also is a top level coach and works for Wales Women Under-19s and works full-time with Liverpool FC Women in their Pro Game Academy.
Ex-Wales youth international defender Liv Fuller (26) captained Liverpool to an FA Girls Youth Cup Final victory while at the club. After advancing through the Liverpool Centre of Excellence, Fuller moved to Sheffield FC and then at AFC Fylde, playing in the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division (second tier) in England.
Defender Louisha Doran signed for Wrexham from Llandudno in Conwy, Wales in 2023; Doran has also been capped by, and scored for, Wales Under-17’s and in England has played with Tranmere Rovers, Everton and Chester.
Experienced English defender Keren Allen signed for Wrexham in 2023 after three consecutive promotion-winning seasons with Stourbridge, in England’s West Midlands. The former West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa defender, who has played for both England schoolgirls and the Welsh Universities teams, first moved to North Wales to study at Bangor.
Midfielder/winger Carra Jones (22) signed for Wrexham on the eve of the 2023/24 season after impressing on trial through the summer. She previously played for Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City.
Midfielder Lili Jones (18) is Wrexham is a lifelong supporter and played for the club through the Girls Performance Centre. She played at Everton and was capped by Wales at the U-17 level. Jones captained Wrexham AFC Women Under-19s to back-to-back league titles as well as establishing herself in the senior team. She was the youngest player to be awarded a semi-professional contract in the summer of 2023, and claimed an assist on her top-flight debut just shy of her 18th birthday on the opening day of the 2023/24 season, at the end of which she won the Young Player of the Year Award. She was also nominated for the Genero Adran league Young Player of the Year.
Forward Abbie Iddenden (24) played in the U.S. at Limestone University in Gaffney, South Carolina. She also played at Stoke City in England with Carra Jones.
Forward Rosie Hughes (28) is a full-time corrections officer at the largest prison in the U.K., who has been featured in Welcome to Wrexham; she joined Wrexham and scored a hat trick in the 2021/22 season opener against Pwllheli. She then scored nine goals against her former team Denbigh Town and finished the year with 48 goals in just 21 appearances. Hughes was named Player of the Season and Golden Boot winner for both Wrexham and the league that season, and repeated the same feat the following year after hitting 42 goals in just 18 games.
Those goals included the late winner at the Racecourse against Connah’s Quay Nomads in front of a Welsh record 9,511 supporters at home on the final day of the regular season. After scoring 90 goals in her first two seasons, Hughes was awarded a semi-professional contract ahead of the 2023/24 season, and inevitably scored on the opening day against Swansea City. Hughes scored her 100th Wrexham goal earlier last season in a 3-1 win over TNS.
Forward Amber Lightfoot is another product of Wrexham AFC’s Women Under-19s system, played for Liverpool in England as a youth, and made her senior debut early in the 2021/22 season. She finished the 2021/22 season as Wrexham’s top scorer, helping them to the Genero Adran U19’s North title, but was also playing with the senior team as well, scoring 14 league goals at the top level and was named Young Player of the Season.
During the next season in 2022-23, she scored 16 league goals and 20 in all competitions, helping Wrexham to win the Genero Adran North title and promotion to the top flight in Wales for the first time. Lightfoot ended the season as both the league’s and Wrexham’s Young Player of the Season, and was also nominated for the overall Adran North Player of the Season, which her teammate Rosie Hughes captured. After 37 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions across the previous two seasons, Lightfoot was rewarded with one of the club’s first semi-professional contracts ahead of the 2023/24 campaign.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women’s football. Get your copy today. Follow Tim on X: @TimGrainey