The LCFC Women Academy Pathway aims to promote both participation and elite talent development in Leicestershire, uniting connected stakeholders in the region under one programme for the long-term improvement of the women’s game.
More than half of LCFC Women’s Barclays Women’s Championship promotion-winning squad of 2020/21 were home-grown in Leicestershire and the progress of the professional women’s team is supported by a long-term strategy of the game’s growth in the region, of which the LCFC Women Academy Pathway is a central feature.
The programme saw the Leicester City Girls’ Regional Talent Club (RTC) merge with the LCFC Women’s Academy to comprise a complete player pathway – from schoolgirl age groups (Under-9s to Under-16s), through to the Club’s post-16 pathways and into the professional ranks.
The integrated pathway continues to progressively build an accessible route for outstanding talent into full-time football in Leicester.
Alongside the Academy Pathway with teams competing across all age groups, the FA Weetabix Wildcats Girls’ Football Programme is the entry route into the programme, as well as providing a safe and welcoming introduction to football for players of all abilities.
All LCFC Women football operations are based at the Club’s elite training facility at Belvoir Drive in the heart of the city. Graded Category One by the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan, the facility became home to LCFC Women in 2021.
Providing seven grass pitches, an indoor pitch, floodlit 3G pitch, performance gym, leading medical facilities and analysis and education rooms all on site, one of the best-equipped female-only football facilities in Europe is the setting for all academy training and home matches.
