Loughborough Lightning F.C.

Loughborough Lightning Football Club (formerly Loughborough Foxes) is a football club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. They are currently members of the FA Women's National League Division One Midlands and play at the Loughborough University Stadium.

Loughborough Lightning

Full name	Loughborough Lightning Football Club
Nickname(s)	Lightning
Founded	1999 (as Shepshed Foxes)
Ground	Loughborough University Stadium, Loughborough
Capacity	3,300
Manager	Charles Baxter
League	FA Women's National League Division One Midlands
2024–25	FA Women's National League Division One Midlands, 1sr of 12
Website	https://www.lboro.ac.uk/sport/performance/lightning/football/
Home colours Away colours

History

The club was founded in 1999 as Shepshed Foxes by Gail and Paul Fox, who wanted to give girls in the surrounding area an opportunity to play football, before becoming Loughborough Foxes in 2002.^[1]

After playing in local leagues for much of the first 15 years of their history, Loughborough were promoted to the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division (the 3rd tier of women's football) for the first time in 2015 from the Midlands Division One but would suffer relegation back to the 4th tier after just one season. The Foxes returned to the now renamed FA Women's National League in 2018 having secured promotion and the Midlands Division One title with a record of 21 wins and 1 draw from 22 games.^[2]

In January 2019, Loughborough Foxes player and junior team coach Molly Webb died aged 25, with Director of Football Steve Wilkinson describing her as "a joy to spend time with; she was vibrant, enthusiastic, a motivator and someone you want in your team whatever the situation.".^[3] The Foxes would end their first season back at the third tier of women's football in 7th place in the 2018–19 FA Women's National League Southern Division before being realigned to the Northern Division for the following season.

In June 2021, the club merged with the Loughborough University performance team to become Loughborough Lightning F.C.^[4]

Players

Current squad

As of 2 May 2025^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG Alicia Grimmond 2 DF  ENG Georgia Hewitt (vice-captain) 3 DF  ENG Hazel Cotton 4 MF  ENG Sarah Woodbyrne (captain) 5 DF  ENG Hannah Plumb 6 DF  ENG Hannah Langford 7 FW  ENG Ferne Powell 8 MF  ENG Poppy Wright 9 FW  SCO Jade Arber 10 MF  ENG Jess Collyer 11 FW  ENG Lauren Purchase 12 DF  ENG Emily Jacobs 13 GK  ENG Teresa Murphy 13 GK  ENG Ash Naismith 15 FW  ENG Lydia Tilbury-Henry

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 DF  ENG Zofia Szczech 19 FW  ENG Zyn Delglyn 21 FW  ENG Ella-Mai Coutts 23 DF  WAL Evie Williams 24 MF  ENG Kenzy Collingbourne 25 FW  ENG Ella Jarowicki (dual registration with Leicester City) 26 DF  ENG Mia Filipiak 30 MF  WAL Morgan Rodgers 31 MF  WAL Claudia Jones 33 MF  ENG Amelie Johnson 35 MF  ENG Alice Higginbottom 37 FW  ENG Ruby Freer

Recent seasons

Year	League	Lvl	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Position	FA Women's Cup		League Cup
												Res	Rec	Res	Rec
2006–07	Leicestershire Women's Senior League	7	12	9	0	3	51	17	+34	27	2nd of 7[6] Promoted	PR	0-0-1	1R[7]	0-0-1
2007–08	East Midlands Regional Women's Football League Division One South	6	16	8	7	1	50	23	+27	31	2nd of 9[8] Promoted	1Q	0-0-1	1R[9]	0-0-1
2008–09	East Midlands Regional Women's Football League Premier Division	5	20	14	4	2	62	21	+41	46	1st of 11[10] Promoted	1Q	0-0-1	QF[11]	2-0-1
2009–10	Midland Combination Women's Football League	4	22	2	3	17	23	78	-55	9	12th of 12[12] Relegated	2R	1-0-1
2010–11	East Midlands Regional Women's Football League Premier Division	5	20	16	2	2	81	23	+58	50	1st of 11[13] Promoted	3Q	1-0-1
2011–12	Midland Combination Women's Football League	4	20	8	2	10	35	39	-4	26	6th of 11[14]	2R	2-0-1	QF[15]	1-0-1
2012–13	Midland Combination Women's Football League	4	20	6	1	13	32	46	-14	19	9th of 11[16]	2R	2-0-1	QF[17]	1-0-1
2013–14	Midland Combination Women's Football League	4	20	8	2	10	48	63	-15	25[18]	7th of 11[19] Transferred	1R	1-0-1	1R[20]	0-0-1
2014–15	FA Women's Premier League Midlands Division One	4	22	16	4	2	69	26	+43	52	1st of 12 Promoted	1R	1-0-1	1R	0-0-1
2015–16	FA Women's Premier League Northern Division	3	22	3	2	17	26	58	-32	11	12th of 12 Relegated	4R	2-0-1	QF	2-0-1
2016–17	FA Women's Premier League Midlands Division One	4	22	18	0	4	111	31	+80	54	2nd of 12	3QR	0-0-1	3R	3-0-1
2017–18	FA Women's Premier League Midlands Division One	4	22	21	1	0	91	9	+82	64	1st of 12 Promoted	2R	2-0-1	2R	2-0-1
2018–19	FA Women's National League Southern Division	3	22	10	4	8	48	32	+16	34	7th of 12 Transferred	4R	2-0-1	SF	5-0-1
2019–20	FA Women's National League Northern Division	3									Season abandoned	3R	1-0-1	1R	0-0-1
2020–21	FA Women's National League Northern Division	3									Season abandoned	2R	0-0-1	Not held	0-0-0
2021–22	FA Women's National League Northern Division	3	24	6	5	13	35	63	-28	23	10th of 13	3R	2-0-1	2R	3-0-1
2022–23	FA Women's National League Northern Division	3	22	0	3	19	10	59	-49	3	12th of 12 Relegated	2R	1-0-1	1R	1-0-1
2023–24	FA Women's National League Division One Midlands	4	22	16	5	1	59	21	+38	53	2nd of 12	2R	2-0-1	PR	1-0-1
2024–25	FA Women's National League Division One Midlands	4	22	19	3	0	85	10	+75	60	1st of 12 Promoted	2R	2-0-1	DR	0-0-1

Records

• Best League performance: 7th FA Women's National League South (third level), 2018–19
• Best FA Women's Cup performance: Fourth Round, 2015–16 & 2018–19