1987–2009: Founding and early success Arsenal Football Club had explored the idea of a women's team from as early as the 1960s, when local teams asked for financial support in an attempt to turn semi-professional; the Ladies of Islington notably sought support from the club, but were turned down by the Arsenal hierarchy in 1965. Following
The Football Association's (FA) decision to rescind the ban on
women's football in England in 1969, the game's popularity increased following the creation of official league matches and knock-out competition organised by the
Women's Football Association (WFA).
Millwall Lionesses had become the first women's team to affiliate with a prominent men's team. The
Rotherhithe-based side was founded in 1971 and pioneered a successful youth community scheme for young women with support from their
parent club. Arsenal looked to replicate Millwall's success and founded their own women's team and youth programmes for girls by amalgamating with local team Aylesbury Ladies. Arsenal Ladies Football Club was formed in 1987 by long-term Arsenal men's kit manager
Vic Akers, and he was appointed as the amateur side's initial manager. This began a period of sustained dominance for the club, who soon permanently moved into
Meadow Park in
Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, in a groundshare agreement with non-league side
Boreham Wood. Following the successes of the men's team, Arsenal made a conscious effort to brand women's football as equitable. Over the next 20 years, Arsenal approached all facets of the game, such as training, tactics, scouting, and finance, with the goal of growing the club and winning trophies. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Arsenal topped the Premier League for many seasons, boasting academy graduates like
Marieanne Spacey and
Faye White, as well as spending the club's income on stars like
Emma Byrne, enabling the club to win a slew of trophies. Akers stepped down as manager of Arsenal's Women's team during the summer of 1997 to become kit manager for the men's team. Terry Howard took charge of the team for the 1997–98 season but Akers returned in 1998–99 following Howard's departure. The club became semi-professional in 2002. Under Akers' stewardship, Arsenal enjoyed unilateral domestic success, as the club claimed 11 league titles, nine
FA Women's Cup titles, ten
FA Women's Premier League Cup titles, and five
FA Women's Community Shield wins. This included seven straight league wins from the 2003–04 season to 2009–10 season, as well as six unbeaten campaigns. Akers led the team to the most successful club season in English women's football in the 2006–07 season as the team won every competition available to them, including the
UEFA Women's Cup. The win marked Arsenal's only European trophy and was the first time an English club had won the competition. This unique sextuple was recognized with The Committee Award by the
Sports Journalists' Association in the 2007 Sports Journalists' Awards. Akers also led the team to a number of English women's football records, including a six-year league unbeaten run from October 2003 to March 2009, marking 108 games without defeat. During that spell, Arsenal won a record 51 league games in a row, between November 2005 and April 2008. Akers retired from management following a domestic treble in the
2008–09 season.
2009–present: Post-Akers and the WSL Akers was succeeded by
Tony Gervaise, who resigned in February 2010 after only eight months in charge, suggesting his position had been undermined by outside interference. This appointment marked the club's first female coach in any capacity. After a year break in play in preparation for a reformatted league, Arsenal were named as founder members of the
FA Women's Super League, which commenced in the spring of 2011. Arsenal won the inaugural season, marking their eighth consecutive English title, and secured another domestic double by also winning the FA Cup. After a two-year period without a league triumph,
Shelley Kerr was announced as Harvey's successor in 2013. Under her management, the club won two FA Women's Cups, including a win in
2014 two weeks after the men's team won the
2014 FA Cup, completing a rare FA Cup double for the club. But after a poor run of form which saw Arsenal gain only one point from the opening four league matches of the 2014 season, including exits from the Champions League to minnows Birmingham and a shock loss to Reading, Kerr resigned. She was replaced by
Pedro Losa. Losa led the team to the
2015 FA WSL Cup and the
2016 FA Women's Cup. Moreover, he helped to rebuild the squad, notably recruiting younger stars like
Daniëlle van de Donk,
Kim Little,
Beth Mead and
Vivianne Miedema. Losa also brought through youngsters like
Leah Williamson. However, Losa left following a poor start to the
2017-18 season and was replaced by
Joe Montemurro. In July 2017, the club rebranded as Arsenal Women Football Club, Following the resignation of Montemurro, the club appointed
Jonas Eidevall as head coach of Arsenal. On 5 March 2023, Arsenal defeated
Chelsea 3–1 in the
Women's League Cup final to win their first trophy since 2019. Arsenal repeated the feat
the following year, defeating Chelsea 1–0 after extra time to win their ninth Women's League Cup title. In the
2023–24 season, the WSL record attendance was broken three times at the Emirates; against Liverpool in September with 54,115, Chelsea in December with 59,042, followed by Manchester United in February with 60,160. In March, the Emirates again sold out for the North London derby against
Tottenham Hotspur with 60,050 in attendance, becoming the second biggest crowd in WSL history. On 15 October 2024, during the
2024-25 season,
Jonas Eidevall resigned as manager of Arsenal following a string of poor results and fan scrutiny. On the same day, it was announced that the ex-Dutch national player
Renée Slegers was promoted from assistant coach to interim head coach of the first team. On 17 January 2025, Slegers was announced as the permanent head coach until the end of the 2025/26 season. On 27 April 2025, Arsenal qualified for their first
UEFA Women's Champions League final in 18 years, after beating
Lyon 5-3 on aggregate. In the
final on 24 May, Arsenal defeated
Barcelona 1–0 to win their second Champions League title. On 7 August 2025, following their Champions League win, 7 of Arsenal's players were announced as nominees for the
2025 Ballon d'Or Féminin:
Mariona Caldentey,
Steph Catley,
Emily Fox,
Chloe Kelly,
Frida Maanum,
Alessia Russo, and
Leah Williamson. Alongside these nominations, Head Coach
Renée Slegers was announced as a nominee for the
Ballon d'Or Coach of the Year award,
Academy graduate
Michelle Agyemang was announced as a nominee for the Women's
Kopa Trophy, goalkeeper
Daphne van Domselaar was nominated for the
Yashin Trophy and Arsenal were nominated for Best Club of the Year. On 1 February 2026, Arsenal won the inaugural
FIFA Women's Champions Cup against
Corinthians, in a 3-2 win. ==Kits==