Buckingham W.F.C.
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| Full name | Buckingham Women's Football Club | |||
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| Nickname(s) | The Royals The Kingswomen | |||
| Short name | Bucks, BWFC | |||
| Founded | 2022 | |||
| Ground | Crown Arena II | |||
| Capacity | 65,200 | |||
| Owner | Prince Thomas, Duke of Hanover | |||
| Manager | William Smith | |||
| League | Women's Super League | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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Buckingham Women's Football Club is an English women's football club based in London, England. Recently founded in 2022, the club currently competes in the Women's Super League, where they are expected to make their debut in the upcoming 2022-2023 season. It is affiliated with its men's counterpart, Buckingham F.C., which competes in the Premier League.
The club's current ground is the Crown Arena II stadium, named after the previous Crown Arena stadium currently used by their men's counterpart team, and which is located just two miles apart.
History
Founding
Buckingham Women was officially established on January 1st 2022 by Prince Thomas, Duke of Hanover, whom prior to founding the club, had been serving as the founding and current chairman of the club's men's counterpart, Buckingham F.C., which was founded in 2018.
Initially, the concept of a Women's counterpart for Buckingham F.C. was said to have been proposed early on when the men's club was first founded in 2018. However, the club's poor initial performance in their debut season at the Premier League, coupled with uncertainties at the time surrounding the club's potential and future would keep such an idea at bay for the time being. However, by 2021, with the club now being in a more stable and comfortable position, the proposal for a women's counterpart soon regained traction, with the Duke of Hanover stating in a press conference held in the aftermath of Buckingham's victory at the 2021–22 UEFA Champions League season that a "Buckingham Women" is "in the works and will become a reality soon enough." Eventually, on January 1st 2022, the Duke of Hanover took to announce the club's formation on Instagram, although he did not initially provide further details.
Then, after a few months of relative silence, during which the construction of Buckingham Women's Crown Arena II stadium, located just a couple of miles apart from the men's Crown Arena stadium, it was announced on June 5th 2022 that Arsenal striker and captain for the England women's national football team, Leah Williamson, has been signed to the club under a five-year contract, with Williamson herself also promptly being made the club's very first team captain. Further signings were then subsequently announced in the days and weeks that followed, which also included fellow England players, Lucy Bronze, Ella Toone, and a couple of other names as well. Meanwhile, former professional footballer, William Smith, was also announced as the club's manager, a role that he is expected to assume for the first five years as per a contract signed.
On June 25th 2022, the club held its first-ever match, that being a friendly match against Sevilla FC, in which they lost with a 1-0 score. Nonetheless, four further friendly matches followed, with the second match being against Inter Milan, which otherwise ended in a 1-1 tie. This was followed by a resounding 2-0 victory in a friendly match against Reading, a 4-1 victory over Stade de Reims, and lastly, a goalless match against SV Meppen.
Players
