Capital Women's Senior Cup
{{Short description|Football tournament in England}}
{{Infobox football tournament
| most successful club = Charlton Athletic (5 titles)
| founded = 2013
| organisers = Middlesex FA, Surrey FA, London FA, Amateur Football Alliance
| region = Greater London
| current champions = Ashford Town (Middlesex) (2nd Title)
| number of teams = 18 clubs (2023-24)
}}
The Capital Women's Senior Cup is an annual women's association football cup competition run jointly by the Middlesex FA, the London FA, the Surrey FA and the Amateur Football Alliance. The competition is open to clubs in tiers 3-5 of the Women's Football Pyramid and under-21 and under-23 teams of clubs in tiers 1-2 of the Women's Football Pyramid.https://www.thefa.com/-/media/cfa/amateurfa/files/capital-womens-cup-rules-season-2023-24.ashx
History
File:Capital cup fulham v haringey 2021.jpg
The Capital Women's Cups were established in 2013, on the initiative of Jackie Newing of the Amateur Football Alliance.{{Cite web |last=London |first=My |date=2014-04-20 |title=Four west London sides gear up for Capital Women's Cup |url=http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/four-west-london-sides-gear-7012565 |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=My London |language=en}} The intention was to consolidate London's fragmented system of county cups, which saw considerable mismatches across the five geographical cup competitions, into three competitions based on league position.
Initially the Senior Cup was open to all clubs in tiers 1-5 of the Women's Football Pyramid, but since 2018 this has been restricted to tiers 3-5, plus under 23 teams from the top two tiers.
The Intermediate Cup is open to clubs in tiers 6 and 7 and the Junior Cup is open to Greater London Women's Football League Division 1 and 2 clubs, plus any club in tier 7 or below (including clubs not in a league).
It replaced the London Women's Cup, the Middlesex FA Women's Cup and the Surrey Women's FA Cup. Administration of the competitions rotate between the four organising associations.
The first five editions of the tournament were dominated by Charlton Athletic W.F.C.. Their run of dominance was only ended by reformating the competition to exclude tier 1 and 2 senior teams.
Women's Super League and Women's Championship academy clubs have enjoyed mixed fortunes in the competition. Arsenal W.F.C. Academy won the 2022-23 edition of the tournament whereas in 2023-24 only Tottenham Hotspur W.F.C. Academy progressed beyond the second round, losing to Haringey Borough in the quarter finals.{{Cite web |last=Association |first=The Football |title=Results |url=http://www.londonfa.com/cups-and-competitions/results?countyCupKey=366921381|250250 |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.londonfa.com |language=en}}
Format
The tournament is a single-legged, unseeded, knock-out competition with team. If a tie is level after 90 minutes, the match is decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Winners and Finalists
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Season !Winners !Runners up !Score !Venue !Attendance |
| 2013–14
|Imber Court, Molesey{{Cite web |title=Ladies Final Date |url=https://www.qpr.co.uk/news/archive/ladies-final-date/ |website=QPR FC}} | |
| 2014–15
|222 |
| 2015–16
|Harry Abrahams Stadium, Finchley | |
| 2016–17 |
| 2017–18
|Bedfont Recreation Ground, Bedfont | |
| 2018–19
|181 |
| 2019–20
| colspan="4" |Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic | |
| 2020–21
|2-2 (4-3 p){{Cite web |last=Association |first=The Football |title=QPR WOMEN WIN CAPITAL WOMEN'S SENIOR CUP |url=http://www.middlesexfa.com/news/2021/jun/02/qpr-women-win-capital-womens-senior-cup |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=www.middlesexfa.com |language=en}} |Bedfont Recreation Ground, Bedfont |317 |
| 2021–22
|204 |
| 2022–23 |
| 2023–24
|4-2 |170https://www.middlesexfa.com/news/2024/may/10/capital-womens-senior-cup-final |
Statistics
= Performance by club =
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Club !Winners !Runners Up !Winning Years |
| Charlton Athletic
|5 |0 |2014,2015,2016,2017,2018 |
| Ashford Town
|2 |0 |2022,2024 |
| Actonians.
|1 |1 |2019 |
| Queens Park Rangers
|1 |1 |2021 |
| Arsenal Academy
|1 |0 |2023 |
| Tottenham Hotspur
|0 |2 | |
| West Ham United
|0 |1 | |
| London Seaward
|0 |1 | |
| Dulwich Hamlet
|0 |1 | |
| AFC Wimbledon
|0 |1 | |
| Haringey Borough
|0 |1 | |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.londonfa.com/ Official Website of the London Football Association]
- [https://www.surreyfa.com/ Official Website of the Surrey Football Association]
- [https://www.middlesexfa.com/ Official Website of the Middlesex Football Association]
- [https://www.amateur-fa.com/ Official Website of the Amateur Football Alliance]