AFC Bournemouth Women

This article is about the women's football club based in England. For the men's team, see AFC Bournemouth. For other teams called Bournemouth, see Bournemouth (disambiguation) § Football.

AFC Bournemouth Women (/ˈbɔːrnməθ/ ^ⓘ BORN-məth), commonly referred to as just Bournemouth, is an English professional women's football club based in Dorset, England. The club plays in the FA Women's National League South, the fourth tier of English women's football.

AFC Bournemouth

Full name	AFC Bournemouth Women[a]
Nickname(s)	The Cherries
Founded	1992; 33 years ago (1992) as Bournemouth
Ground	The Ringwood Community Hub
Capacity	1,000 The Ringwood Community Hub
Chairman	Bill Foley
Manager	Steve Cuss
League	FA Women's National League South
2024–25	FA Women's National League Division One South West, 1st of 12
Website	https://www.afcb.co.uk/matches/women/
Home colours Away colours

In 2022, Bill Foley bought out AFC Bournemouth's women's team which was previously under the Community Sports Trust.^[3][4][5]

History

Early history

Bournemouth won the 2003–04 Southern Region Division One.^[6] The club achieved a league and cup double for the 2005–06 season, winning the Southern Region Premier Division, and beating Slough Town 3–1 in the final of the Southern Region League Cup.^[7] The club reached the final of the 2007–08 South West Combination League Cup, but were beaten 4–1 by Plymouth Argyle.^[8] Bournemouth were forced to withdraw from the league due to financial problems, and lack of managerial staff. The club ultimately folded in March 2009.^[9]

National League

Bournemouth had reformed by 2012, playing in the Hampshire County Football League. The club achieved successive promotions, winning the 2014–15 Hampshire County Division Three,^[10] and the 2015–16 Hampshire County Division Two.^[11] Manager Steve Davies left the club in 2019,^[12] with Bournemouth appointing Steve Cuss as manager ahead of the 2019–20 season.^[13] The club successfully applied for promotion to the FA Women's National League Division One South West for the 2021–22 season.^[14] Bournemouth made their competitive debut at Dean Court on 10 April 2022, in a 4–1 win against Chesham United.^[15]

The 2023-24 season saw the players move to a semi-professional status.^[16] The season itself came to a dramatic end, as the last match of the season between Bournemouth and Exeter City Women FC would decide which of the two teams would be promoted.^[17] Exeter City chose to play the match in the familiar surroundings of the Exwick Sports Hub, their regular home venue and not at the main St James Park stadium, despite high interest in the match causing tickets to sell out.^[18] Bournemouth could only manage a 1-1 draw, which saw Exeter City promoted as champions.^[19] Despite not winning promotion, Bournemouth remained unbeaten in the league having last lost a league match against Cardiff City on 5th March 2023, in the previous season.^[20]

The 2024-25 season was the team’s most successful on record. Their 18^th successive game and win in a row saw them confirmed as champions and promoted to The Southern Premier Division in a match at Dean Court in front of over 7,000 fans.^[21][22] Drawing only one subsequent league match made it the second successive season unbeaten in the league.^[23][24] A strong defensive performance also saw them not concede a goal for over 1,000 minutes and assisted goalkeeper Erin Foley in winning the Golden Glove Award.^[25] They also won the National League Plate Trophy^[26] and narrowly missed out on a third trophy, finishing runners up in The Hampshire Senior Cup just 3 days later.^[27]

Stadium

Bournemouth normally play their home games at The Ringwood Community Hub, Ringwood. This is a shared facility with Ringwood Town F.C.

Address : Ringwood Community Hub 155 Long Lane Kingston, Upper Kingston, Ringwood BH24 3BX.^[28]

The Ringwood Community Hub has undergone a major upgrade to the facilities following an investment of £3.4 million by the New Forest District Council, Ringwood Town Council, Ringwood and District Round Table, AFC Bournemouth Community Sports Trust and the Football Foundation.^[29][30]

New floodlights have been installed on the main grass pitch. An artificial turf 3G pitch opened in February 2023 and is used for training, or if the main pitch is unavailable.^[31]

Work started on the new pavilion clubhouse in June 2023.^[32] The first game AFC Bournemouth Women played using the new pavilion was on Sunday 13 October 2024 against Bishops Lydeard Ladies AFC in the 3rd round qualifying match of the FA Cup. Although the formal opening of the pavilion, by the leader of the New Forest District Council, took place the following month.^[33]

The old Ringwood Town FC clubhouse has subsequently been demolished.

Since 2022, the club also play select matches at Dean Court:

Date	Opposition	Result	Attendance
10 Apr 2022	Chesham United	W 4-1	1,592[34]
16 Apr 2023	Maidenhead	D 0-0	3,067[35]
5 Nov 2023	Portishead Town	W 4-0	6,805[36]
10 Dec 2023	Charlton Athletic (FA Cup)	L 0-6	1,450[37]
24 Mar 2024	Keynsham Town	D 1-1	6,162[38]
10 Nov 2024	Swindon Town	W 4-0	6,054[39]
23 Mar 2025	Bristol Rovers	W 2-0	7,076[40]

Current squad

As of 2 March 2025^[41]

Most recent squad changes

Olivia Venditto departs by mutual consent.^[42] Kelly Fripp joins Bournemouth Sports WFC for the rest of the season.^[43]

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 Katie Scadding 2 DF  ENG Abby Jones (Captain) 4 DF  WAL Helen Bleazard 5 DF  ENG Holly Humphreys 6 MF  ENG Maisy Smith 8 MF  ENG Phoebe Williams 9 FW  ENG Eloise Hall (dual registration with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women[44][45] 10 MF  ENG Molly Barron-Clark 11 FW  IRL Gemma McGuinness 12 GK  POL Daniela Kosinska 13 GK  ENG Erin Foley 14 MF  ENG Katie James

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 MF  ENG Ellie Strippel 19 FW  ENG Alisha Buckingham 20 DF  WAL Caitlin Morris 21 MF  ENG Ali Hall 22 FW  ENG Jenna Markham 23 FW  ENG Chloe Gilroy 24 DF  ENG Kelci Bowers 25 FW  BER Kenni Thompson 26 FW  ENG Erin Bloomfield 27 DF  ENG Amber Treweek 28 DF  ENG Charlotte Harris

Out on loan

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 15 DF  ENG Kelly Fripp (On loan at Bournemouth Sports WFC until May 2025)

For a list of all former and current AFC Bournemouth Women players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:AFC Bournemouth Women players.

Management

Current management and coaching staff

As of March 2025^[46]

Name	Role
Steve Cuss	Manager

Honours and achievements

League

• Southern Region Premier Division (level 4)
  • Champions: 2005–06
• Southern Region Division One (level 5)
  • Champions: 2003–04
• Hampshire County Division Two (level 8)
  • Champions: 2015–16
• Hampshire County Division Three (level 9)
  • Champions: 2014–15

Cup

• South West Combination League Cup
  • Runners-up: 2007–08
• Southern Region League Cup
  • Winners: 2005–06
• The Chairman's Cup
  • Winners: 2018-19^[47]
• The Hampshire Senior Cup
  • Winners: 2022-23,^[48] 2023-24^[49]
• FA Women's National League Plate
  • Winners: 2024-25^[50]

League history

Champions

Runners-up

Promoted ↑

Relegated ↓

Season	League									FA Cup	League Cup	Other
	Division	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pos			Competition	Res
2018–19	Southern Region Premier (5)	18	16	0	2	93	16	48	2nd	R1	PR	The Chairman's Cup The Hampshire Senior Cup	W R2
2019–20	Southern Region Premier (5)[b]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	Q3	-	The Hampshire Senior Cup	R2
2020–21	Southern Region Premier (5)[b]	1	1	0	0	11	0	3	6th	R1	R1	The Subsidiary Cup	SF
2021–22	Division One South West (4)	18	12	4	2	52	14	40	2nd	R2	R1	The Hampshire Senior Cup	RU
2022–23	Division One South West (4)	22	13	4	5	59	21	43	4th	R1	DR	FA League Plate The Hampshire Senior Cup	R1 W
2023–24	Division One South West (4)	22	19	3	0	98	12	58	2nd	R3	R1	The Hampshire Senior Cup	W
2024–25	↑Division One South West (4)	22	21	1	0	100	7	62	1st	R3	DR	FA League Plate The Hampshire Senior Cup	W RU

Key to league competitions:

• Southern Region Premier - Southern Region Women's Football League Premier Division. (The fifth tier of English women's football.
• Division One South West - The FA Women's National League Southern Division One South West. (The fourth tier of English women's football.

Key to cup competitions:

• DR = Determining Round^[c]
• PR = Preliminary Round
• R1, R2, etc. = Round 1, Round 2, etc.
• Q1, Q2, etc. = Qualifying Round 1, Qualifying Round 2, etc.
• SF = Semi-finals
• RU = Runners Up
• W = Winners

Notes

1. The full name of the club is AFC Bournemouth, without expansion.^[1][2]
2. Cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. All National League clubs are entered at the Determining Round, with the winners continuing in the League Cup competition and the losers going into the National League Plate tournament.