Women’s football round-up: Charlton begin Championship campaign and Palace make more signings ahead of WSL debut
Charlton kick off their 2024-25 FA Women’s Championship campaign on Sunday afternoon when they host Portsmouth at The Valley (2pm).
Karen Hills’ side will be looking to go one better this season and win the second tier after finishing runners-up to Crystal Palace, who won promotion to the Super League last campaign.
The Addicks ended their pre-season with a 2-2 draw against WSL outfit Aston Villa – Ellie Brazil and Kayleigh Barton both netted.
Charlton have been very active in the summer transfer window – Jodie Hutton (Sheffield United), Charlotte Newsham (Sheffield United), Katie Bradley (Blackburn) and Gloria Siber (Professional Game Academy) have all arrived on permanent deals.
Last season’s loanees Mel Filis and Gracie Pearse have also joined permanently from West Ham and Tottenham.
Striker Princess Ademiluyi, 18, joined on loan from West Ham.
Laura Kaminski has continued to assemble her Crystal Palace side ahead of their very first WSL season.
Lexi Potter, 17, has once again returned to the Eagles on loan from Chelsea, having made 21 appearances in all competitions last season as the club secured a historic Championship title.
Potter, right, said: “I’m really happy, really excited and really looking forward to it.
“I had a really good season with the girls last year, so I’m looking forward to getting going again.”
The South Londoners have also signed Finland international goalkeeper Milla-Maj Majasaari.
The 24-year-old has experience of playing at the top level in multiple countries. Majasaari has had spells with AIK and Uppsala in Sweden.
Majasaari moved to Anderlecht in January 2024. She played half a season in the Belgian top division before joining Palace this summer.
Palace’s head of football Grace Williams said: “We are very excited to welcome Milla into our goalkeepers’ union.
“Her professionalism and drive have impressed me from the start, and we are really looking forward to welcoming her to Crystal Palace.”
Sweden international My Cato and Wales international Josie Green have joined from IFK Norrkoping and Leicester City respectively.
New Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor will lead Chelsea out at Kingsmeadow for the first time tomorrow when they host Dutch side Feyenoord in a pre-season friendly.
The Blues beat WSL rivals Arsenal 1-0 in their last pre-season outing in the tour of the USA.
Summer signing Sandy Baltimore netted the only goal in the 48th minute in Washington DC.
The head coach told Chelsea’s website: “It’s not even been one month working with the team and it takes time to make sure all the girls understand our game model and the expectations I have of them.
“I’m really happy. What we wanted to work on since the beginning has been about the team spirit, and from the two games we’ve played, you can see we are playing like a team together, even when we have hard moments in games.”
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD