Aston Villa Women Football Club is the women's football team of Aston Villa, currently playing in the English women's Super League. The club has been in existence under several names since 1973. Originally titled Solihull F.C., the team affiliated to Aston Villa in 1989, becoming Villa Aztecs, and became the officially licensed Aston Villa women's side in 1996. The club have a senior team, a reserve team and several other teams of younger age groups under a Regional Talent Club FA license.
History
Aston Villa Women Football Club was formed in 1973 as Solihull FC. When Aston Villa asked for help in forming a ladies team in 1989, Solihull responded. The club agreed to change their name in 1996 to become the officially recognised ladies team of Aston Villa. As Villa Aztecs they reached the 1995 League Cup Final but lost 2–0 to Wimbledon. In 1998, the senior team, now known as Aston Villa Ladies F.C. won promotion to the Northern Division of the FA Women's Premier League. After 13 seasons in the Northern Division, the Lady Villans won the league in 2011 and gained promotion to the National Division. However on 5 May 2013, the club had its greatest achievement by winning its first ever trophy, the Women's Premier League Cup, beating Leeds United Ladies 5–4 on penalties. In 2014 they were one of ten teams who joined WSL2. In 2018 Aston Villa were elected into the newly formed WSL Championship On 4 July 2019, it was announced that the team would be renamed Aston Villa Women F.C., CEO Christian Purslow, described that the new name "aligns more appropriately with women’s football in this country". On the same day, it was announced that Aston Villa's Chief Commercial Officer, Nicola Ibbetson, had been elected to the Women's Super League and Women's Championship board - making Aston Villa Women one of only two Championship clubs to have a representative on the board.
The club also run several other teams under the auspices of an FA Tier Two Regional Talent Club. This centre aims to develop the talent from within the local area. The RTC teams include an under-10, under-12, under-14, under-16 and ''development squad" In August 2010, Aston Villa Women FC supplied eight players to a 30-strong England Under-17 training camp. Over the years the Villa Women have provided many players for the England young teams, including Mollie Rouse who represents England at Under 19 level
