Fulham preparing for next chapter as historic rise continues following season double

Fulham preparing for next chapter as historic rise continues following season double Fulham Women are making history. As the curtain came down on the 2025/26 season, Steve Jaye’s side ended with a domestic double, winning Division One South East – in the fourth tier of the pyramid – and the Capital Cup. A second league title in as many seasons means Fulham have now secured back-to-back promotions. The team’s 47-game unbeaten league streak stretches over three seasons. Despite Fulham’s dominance, not all supporters imagined the Tier 4 title would come so soon. Sarah Keig, Chair of the Fulham Lillies Supporters’ Group, describes the title win as a ‘shock’. “While we’ve had an amazing season, the priority was to consolidate and stay in this league. Not going up to come back down. It’s all credit to the team, Steve Jaye, and the staff they’ve got around them,” she said. The pace of progression may also have taken Jaye by surprise. The Fulham boss was managing his team in Tier 5 last season but will now be planning for life in Tier 3. “From a club perspective, we had a slightly different target to what we had with the players,” he says. “The players drove us to be competitive to win promotion.” Jaye has been with the women’s first team since 2018. Promotion from the London and South East Regional Division – the fifth-tier league – was initially hard to come by. Fulham amassed a series of mid-table finishes between 2018 and 2021, before three consecutive seasons finishing third. In 2024/25, promotion finally arrived and, at the first time of asking, Fulham won the fourth-tier division this campaign. “Promotion is huge for us, because I think from the club’s point of view, we want to move through the pyramid. The speed of that will be dictated by a lot of factors. So to do it back-to-back means a lot because we’ve put a lot of work in to get to this place and that’s been showcased.” ‘Confidence’ key to early-season form Striker Ellie Olds, who joined the club in 2021, has been a crucial part of the season’s success. The 30-year-old scored 23 goals, including a strike that sealed the title versus MK Dons and another that won Fulham the Capital Cup in their 1-0 win over AFC Wimbledon. The prolific forward registered a series of ‘big game goals’, scoring a 90th-minute winner in the opener against Cambridge, a brace against third-place Chatham Town, and a crucial away goal versus title rivals Norwich. “I’m a player that depends on confidence. If I’m confident and playing with a smile, I always play a lot better. I went on a run where I kept scoring so I went into every game knowing I could,” she said. Confidence, more broadly, became the mood in the squad after games early in the season. “Winning the first few games was massive [because] the division, for most of us, was completely unknown,” Olds continued. “Particularly that Norwich game [a 4-2 win]. They were our closest opposition and they were fighting for the title as favourites. So to get that win and the way we did it filled the team with so much confidence knowing we could compete. “Having gone unbeaten last season, we all had the mentality to continue and take it one game at a time. That hasn’t stopped at all this season.” Action during the Womens National League Division One South East match between Fulham and Luton at Craven Cottage on April 12, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Pedro Soares/Fulham FC) Fulham search for a return to the glory days For longer-standing fans, Fulham’s recent rise harks back to the club’s past. Fulham set the standards in women’s football for both ambition and success, becoming England’s first professional outfit in 2000. The club romped to titles, winning four between 2000 and 2006 and securing a domestic treble in the 2002/03 season. Establishing an era of dominance with players including Rachel Yankey, Katie Chapman, Permi Jhooti and Marianne Petersen. However, after the FA failed to deliver on a promise to set up a professional top-flight league in England, Fulham’s ownership withdrew financial backing. First making the team semi-professional, then disbanding it altogether in 2006. It was only in 2014 that the club reformed. Recent successes are slowly returning the club to its former glory, with a professional model incrementally being scaled up. “Everything we do is so different to when we started,” Jaye said. “We started out with one training night a week, an hour and a half on the pitch, we now train three times a week. We started off with three staff members but now have a team of 15 to 20. Depending on how many different people you include. So even from that side there’s been growth.” Olds added: “Obviously there’s been investment. Which allows us to have a lot of support in different aspects. That’s allowed us to have that sense of professionalism on and off the pitch which goes into our performances. “I had a serious knee injury a few seasons ago and to be able to get that care and have access to physios three or four times a week helped me massively to get me back playing. But also strength and conditioning, psychology, nutrition. All of those mechanisms help us perform better on the pitch.” Action during the Womens National League Division One South East match between Fulham and Luton at Craven Cottage on April 12, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Pedro Soares/Fulham FC) Bridging the gap between divisions The challenge Fulham now face is continuing their growth in Tier 3. The team faced Tier 3 opposition on three occasions last season, losing 4-2 to Exeter City and 5-0 to Bournemouth. But Jaye insists the gap between the divisions is not too big to bridge. “Results haven’t gone the way we wanted against Tier 3 teams, but we’ve been pleased with some of the performances we put in against those sides. On another day, if some of the players in the squad were available, we may or may not have been able to get a different result.” On the other occasion that Fulham played Tier 3 opposition, it was against Wimbledon in the Capital Cup final. The fact that Fulham won exemplifies Jaye’s point, suggesting the team’s improvement over the season has narrowed the gap. Even so, Jaye recognises Fulham will need time to adapt and is yet to firm up targets for next season. “It starts with what we think is realistic to achieve. Last year, we weren’t arrogant to think we’d win the league and have that as the objective. But we felt we could compete in the top two or three positions. “The discussion will be ongoing across multiple groups. We’ve got to have everyone bought in so we know what direction we’re headed in at the start of the season.” Action during the Womens National League Division One South East match between Fulham and Luton at Craven Cottage on April 12, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Pedro Soares/Fulham FC) Fulham aim for the WSL – but professionalisation must come first. For supporters, the vision going forward is not just about growth on the pitch but also professionalisation off it. “It’s really only this season where the women’s team has had a social media presence, somebody who’s dedicated to the operations,” Keig says. “We played our first game at The Cottage [this season], we had our first night game. So it’s slowly getting there and slowly building.” Keig says the Fulham Lillies are in dialogue with the club and points out fan suggestions are acted upon where possible. But the club has not communicated its long-term vision and staff members ‘dedicated to the women’s team’ are not in place across all areas. “I’m really hopeful, now we’re in Tier 3, this is the season where things change and we get more from the club in terms of, ‘What are the plans?’ It’s hard to say [the board] doesn’t invest [in the women’s team], because financially they have invested in the club, and the women get to use the facilities at Motspur Park where the men train. “But the operational side [could improve] – for example, providing food and beverages at home games. There hasn’t been an announcer at home games. We now need to see it become a more professional model.” The professionalisation of the club remains part of a longer-term goal, and Jaye is not afraid to say Fulham are aiming for the top flight. “To get to the WSL is incredibly difficult and so many clubs are doing similar things in terms of investment and offering players and staff the best chance for promotion. But I’m pretty confident we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing now without that longer term vision of wanting to compete with the top teams in the country.” Judging on this season, Olds looks set to be a part of that journey: “It’s an exciting time to be in women’s football, and to be part of Fulham because we’re on such a good trajectory. Having those longer-term plans for all the players, whether that’s past or present, to see the club succeed will be amazing.” Related articles from Her Football Hub: FIFA launches Female Health and Performance Project, bridging the gap in research within the women’s game Why do we become football fans?: Types of supporters and the psychology behind it Seven iconic Chelsea memories from dominant six-year run as Women’s Super League champions