Women's Football

Women's football at Loughborough is inclusive for all, from our high-performance Lightning programme to our halls sport competitions.

Loughborough Lightning Football

Loughborough Lightning Women FC was established in the 2021-2022 season, and compete in the FA Women's National League, Northern Premier Division. There are several entry routes for players, register your interest now through this online form.

We proudly represent Loughborough University as part of the Loughborough Lightning Family.  Our campus is the home for world class female sport. The Lightnting Family includes Netball, Cycling, Rugby and Wheelchair Basketball. 

Loughborough Lightning

Performance Football

The Loughborough University Performance Football programme is overseen by Director of Football Richard Allen and Programme Manager Mat Stock. With UEFA A Licensed Head Coach Charlie Baxter leading our women’s performance offer. Loughborough University Women's Performance squad currently compete in BUCS Premier North, the top division for University Football and have featured in the final for the last 3 seasons.

Players within the programme utilise the world class facilities on campus from preseason through to the end of the season. Performance squad players receive support through our inter-disciplinary team with dedicated strength & conditioning coaches, psychologist, physiotherapists, performance analysts and nutritionist. Within the programme players also have access to Performance Lifestyle support who help our athlete to balance football alongside their studies and our top athletes can apply for scholarships. 

Overall eligibility criteria for Scholarships can be found here. It is advantageous to hold experience within the WSL Academy, Championship and/or FAWNL Tier 3 or 4 senior experience, we prioritise minutes over appearances. We expect players to be fully committed to our University programme as part of the scholarship agreement please note that receiving a scholarship is not guaranteed even if you meet the criteria, scholarships are awarded by our Head Coach.

Women's Performance Football
Club Alumni

AU Club

Loughborough Students Women's Football club have four squads competing across the top four levels of BUCS.

Our teams currently compete in the following leagues:

  • 1st Team – BUCS Premier North & BUCS Championship KO Cup
  • 2nd Team – BUCS League Midlands 2B & Midland's Conference KO Cup
  • 3rd Team – BUCS League Midlands 2A & Midland's Conference KO Cup
  • 4th Team – BUCS League Midlands 3B & Midland's Conference KO Cup

All fixtures and results for BUCS are on the BUCS Play app or webpage. To see BUCS Play please see the link below.

BUCS Play
Join the AU Football Club

Further Opportunities

In addition to the club competing in BUCS there is the opportunity to play for LSWFC in the Women's Football Pyramid. We currently compete at Tier 5 of the Women's Football Pyramid in the East Midlands Regional League Premier Division, the Leicestershire & Rutland County Cup and the East Midlands Regional Alliance League Cup.

Coaching and Volunteering

Find out about the Coaching and Volunteering opportunities in the Football programme.

Hall Sport

We encourage you to compete in football for your halls of residence in IMS competitions held throughout the year. You compete in teams against other halls, and these competitions are always great fun.

Social Sport

Our social sport programme offers free, competitive sport that allows participants to play sport socially. You can represent your department, society and/or as a group of friends.

My Lifestyle

Football is also available through the My Lifestyle initiative, where you can give the sport a go and have loads of fun at the same time.