Leicester City Women's season has been a tough one to watch. With nine straight Women's Super League defeats and just 10 goals scored all campaign, the writing has been on the wall for some time. The 7-0 thrashing at Arsenal this week confirmed what many feared: Rick Passmoor's side will finish bottom of the table with two games still to play.
Coming just over a week after the men's team suffered relegation to League One, it's another blow for a club that seems to be unraveling. But here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. Unlike automatic demotion, the Foxes have a one-off shot at redemption. Instead of dropping straight to the second tier, they'll face a relegation play-off on Saturday, May 23, against whoever finishes third in WSL 2.
Why the lifeline? The WSL is expanding from 12 to 14 teams ahead of the 2026-27 season, creating this unique opportunity. For Passmoor and his squad, the mission is simple: win and stay up.
"A double relegation would be a complete PR disaster," says BBC Radio Leicester reporter Zoe McGrady. And she's not wrong. The stakes couldn't be higher for a club that enjoyed its best-ever WSL season just a year ago.
Last term under Amandine Miquel, Leicester achieved a club-record 20 points, winning five games at King Power Stadium to finish 10th. But summer departures of key players Yuka Momiki and academy graduate Ruby Mace to Everton significantly weakened the squad. Then, just 10 days before the start of the current season and with two years left on her contract, Miquel left the club.
The Foxes scrambled for a replacement, bringing in former West Ham assistant Passmoor—initially as interim, then permanently. Insiders say he's made a positive impact with the players, but that hasn't translated to results on the pitch. As McGrady notes, "Last season under Amandine, there was a lot of disconnect between staff and players." Now, with everything on the line, Leicester need to find that connection fast.