Bristol Academy have officially changed their name to Bristol City Women's Football Club, they have confirmed.

The club submitted an application to the FA following their relegation to WSL 2 earlier this year, and today the country's governing body has announced that that has now been approved.

"From immediate effect," the FA confirmed, "the team will compete in all eligible competitions as Bristol City Women's FC."

Big step forward

This huge step follows relegation from the country's top division for Bristol, with them finishing bottom of the WSL 1 this year after gaining just eight points from 14 games.

The reason for their struggles came down to the loss of many key players to the bigger, professional teams in the league - Natalia and Jemma Rose joining Arsenal whilst Natasha Harding moved to Manchester City, amongst other transfers elsewhere.

Jemma Rose, who recently earned her first senior England cap against Bosnia and Herzegovina, was just one of many key players Bristol Academy lost at the beginning of 2015. (Photo: Arsenal FC)

Thus, this move means that the club can now be backed financially by the men's team, Bristol City, who compete in the Championship and showed their wealth in the summer when they signed Jonathan Kodjia from French Ligue 2 side Angers for £2 million.

The club's Chairman, Simon Arnold, told their website that they only exist "so that young girls can aspire to play professional football," but that that was becoming "increasingly difficult" as they lacked "the back-office infrastructure and supporter base" to become a professional club themselves who could "survive on their own."

As a result, something had to change, and now it has, he believes the club will "be able to survive in the medium term."

The club also have the support of Bristol Sport, with CEO Andrew Billingham saying that the group are looking forward to "developing" their relationship by offering Bristol City Women assistance "in terms of marketing, communication and ticketing."

Controversial adaption of the name 'City'?

One issue that has arisen during the whole process of this name change, since the submitting of the application and even before, is that there are two clubs in Bristol - City, and Bristol Rovers.

The name of Bristol Academy meant that the team could be followed by all Bristol fans, regardless of which men's team they followed. However, now that the club have committed to one of those, there is a fear that some support could be lost.

However, Arnold says that the Board have "recognise[d] the sensitivities" for some fans with the name change and the "aligning with Bristol City," given that the club are based in a city "which has firm allegiances to...two football clubs."

Nonetheless, "although some spectators may be lost," which he dubbed as "disappointing", the club are "sure" that the "true" fans of the women's game will remain.

As well as this, Rovers would certainly not have been able to offer the same financial backing as City can, with them only promoted from the non-league into League Two earlier this year, and so the decision is certainly the more productive one in terms of the future of the women's team.

Bristol City Women's FC will play their football in WSL 2 next year, with the season beginning in March, and will be officially launched as a club on Wednesday 6 January. Season ticket details will also be announced on this date.