Lincoln Ladies FC were founded in 1995 and began playing in the East Midlands Combination League. The club was promoted in each of the following seasons, bar one, until reaching the
FA Women's Premier League Northern Division in 2002. The team finished as league runners-up in four successive seasons (2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10) and reached the semi-final of the
FA Women's Cup in 2007–08. A five-year sponsorship deal with former
Lincoln City F.C. board member
Ray Trew in June 2008 led to the club's change of name to
OOH Lincoln Ladies. Trew had previously sponsored the club through his SportsTV company, and made available extra funds for signings such as
England internationals
Kay Hawke and
Amanda Barr to assist the club's promotion bid. If successful the club planned to divide home games between
Sincil Bank and current home,
Ashby Avenue. In 2009–10 they had taken second place in the
FA Women's Premier League Northern Division to
Liverpool LFC, after finishing second to
Sunderland WFC,
Nottingham Forest and
Liverpool LFC in the three previous seasons. which was televised on
ESPN. In the same week
Sue Smith also joined from
Leeds United. Weeks before the start of the new competition, Lincoln made another major signing with the capture of
Casey Stoney from
Chelsea.
Stadia Lincoln Ladies FC ground-shared with
Lincoln United F.C. at
Ashby Avenue after summer 2009. Before that the club spent three seasons playing in
Collingham, Nottinghamshire at the Station Road ground, which became a "fortress".
Supporters Lincoln Ladies FC claimed to have had one of the largest fanbases of any
female club in
England. The
FA Women's Cup semi-final in 2008 attracted 3,000 fans to
Sincil Bank, while over 1,500 attended other high-profile home matches. By the last two seasons in Lincoln, 2012 and 2013, average home attendances had slumped to 526 and 269 respectively.
Lincoln City Women In 2019, Nettleham LFC rebranded to
Lincoln City Women F.C. and became the new team affiliated with
Lincoln City F.C. They are often mistaken for Lincoln Ladies but held no connection to the original team. ==Notts County Ladies==