The Women’s FA Cup has been going since 1970, with this year marking its 57th edition.
In that time, there have been 18 different winners, with Arsenal the most successful team in the competition's history, lifting the trophy 14 times, the last coming in 2016.
Last year, the FA Cup saw the completion of a domestic double, as the WSL champions Manchester City cruised to a 4-0 win over first-time finalists Brighton and Hove Albion.
As the 2026/27 season begins to kick off, one team is preparing for their first steps in England’s most famous cup competition; that team is Hartpury Women FC, who face off against Cirencester Town.
What’s unique about Hartpury is that they are a university who specialise within sport and offers many dual pathways between professional sport and education in many different sports such as rowing, rugby, and cycling.
Hartpury University launched their first women’s football senior team ahead of the 2025/26 season, and enjoyed an incredible debut season, finishing second in the Gloucestershire County Women’s Football League with 47 points from 20 games and earning a place in Tier 6 of the women’s football pyramid for 2026/27.
Leah Burridge is the women' s football manager at Hartpury University, and spoke to VAVEL during their four-day pre-season camp, which she described as positive.
Positive pre-season
“[They’ve] been in for pre-season over the last six weeks; the girls have had five pre-season fixtures, really competitive games, lots learnt, really positive games, things that have worked well, things that we can learn and develop ready to go into the season, but they've had a really good pre-season.
“We're looking forward to Sunday's game now, taking it to the next level.”
Excitement over playing in the sixth tier
Burridge admitted that playing in Tier 6 was going to be a challenge, but recruitment of former players in higher levels of women’s football who had previously been through the programme, alongside the belief that the players would give 100% every week, gave some excitement.
“We expect the level to be higher; the experience of the players [in the sixth tier] is going to be difficult for us; we're a young team.
“We have the recruitment from our college and university programme, but also, we've recruited some very good players ourselves from tier 5, tier 4 players that have that experience already, that have come through our programme and now want to come back to the Hartpury Women's FC weekend team.
“So, we know it's going to be a new challenge and a new learning development for us playing in tier 6, but we're excited for that, and we know that we'll be able to put out a good application of ourselves every Sunday. “
Tactical challenges
One of the players part of the programme, and looking to make their mark this weekend, will be Louise Hiett, who outlined the bigger tactical differences between the leagues, but also praised the higher amount of analysis coming into the women’s game.
“I think there'll be an increase in the more tactical aspect of the game.
"Obviously, there'll be higher management throughout each team as well. So they'll have their own game plan: what they want to do, how they want to win.
“There's more analysis coming into the game now too, especially for females. We're getting more coverage on that game footage and stuff as well.”
“Everyone will be more prepared; they'll know their opponents better, plan better, prepare better.”
Balancing education and sport
Hiett is a good example of the balancing act between professional sports and education, as she continues to study a degree in Sport Therapy at Hartpury. She offers some good insight into the challenges of switching between her degree and her football, as well as the importance of mentality.
“For me, having fixtures and stuff like later on in the year, I'll have some of my weekends come up where I'll be unavailable and stuff, and the course is quite a challenge as well.
"So, focusing on studying as well as preparing for training. I spoke a lot about mentality as well.
“You've got to kind of switch off your in-class kind of head, and you've just got to forget everything that's happened in the day, whether it was a bad test, bad exam, and then move on from that and just try and focus on your head for training, focus on football, rather than your studies and then vice versa throughout each year.”
Importance of being active
According to a statistic from Women in Sport in March 2026, 1.3 million girls dropped out of sports during their teen years, while a 2022 report by Sport England states that 64% of girls have quit sport by the age of 16 or 17.
Hiett herself admitted that she recently took a break from football, but gave a good perspective on how being active is important for the mental and social side of things.
“I went on a little bit of a break from football a couple of months ago, just to try and regain and figure out what I wanted to do myself.
“I found myself kind of stuck in this loop of just feeling a bit down, and just not knowing what to do myself.”
“Being active as well helps a lot more than you think. You become moodier. I think I became quite a bit moodier; it helps a lot being active, just giving yourself a reason to kind of get up and be active as well.
“Especially in football, like if you're a runner, I find running impossible, but like going out for a run, just like it's a little bit of me, but playing football and getting in the running, getting in the fitness whilst actually enjoying being in a group of friends that are really nice as well, it's good to play.”
Routine
That routine was something that Burridge also dealt with, having played professionally at Exeter City while leading the women’s football programme at the university.
The 29-year-old admitted that doing those different roles allowed her to help build a supportive schedule for the players.
“I get it from a player's perspective: when they're studying, they're on that dual career pathway, studying and trying to fill their football commitments in as well, and giving 100% every time, it is difficult.
“If you have the right mentality and you have the right support and the right culture around you, I try to create that positive culture for the Hartpury Girls as much as possible so that they feel like they've got that sense of enjoyment, that sense of learning and development as well.
“They're getting something out of it because I've faced those challenges. I've done it as well; I've had to balance my lifestyle with my work life commitments. Once you get into a routine that you're used to, It's definitely easier once you find that routine.
“I've been able to be relatable to the players and help influence them and create the programme at Hartpury to suit the players, which I think helps in terms of their training schedules, their training times, the multi-support disciplinary team that massively helps these players. Across that dual career pathway.
Burridge’s experience as a player in the FA Cup
Manager Burridge has a lot of experience in the Women’s FA Cup as a player, making appearances in the competition for Yeovil Town Ladies, Oxford United, Wolves, Bridgwater United and Exeter City.
Her biggest moment came in 2022 as she captained Bridgwater in a fourth-round home tie against Manchester United, a game which saw Ella Toone get on the scoresheet late on in a 2-0 win for the Red Devils.
Despite the defeat, Burridge looks back on the day with pride and joy.
“It was more of, there wasn't so much pressure on it. It was the fact that we were the underdogs, and we knew together as a team that all we had to do was try our best; anything could happen- that motto of the FA Cup, where anything could happen, and so many underdogs have got so far in the Women's FA Cup as well.
“So it's more of that excitement for us as players and that journey. Being able to have that experience as captain to lead the squad out against some fantastic players that are a part of that team that day is a really exciting opportunity.
“The fact that it was a home game as well, we had a sellout crowd, the environment, the fans, the support that we had was fantastic. It was definitely a highlight of my career being able to have that as a memory.”
Wanting to influence the Hartpury players on their own sporting journeys
For a lot of these girls, a first experience in the FA Cup will be a memory that sticks with them forever (Credit: Getty/FA)
Despite this, Burridge didn’t want to pass on too much stuff about her own journey, in order to help this current generation of players begin to flourish on their own path.
“I don't necessarily want to pass too much information about my journey onto the players. It's now a journey for them to kickstart and create their own journey.
“I can help influence, and I can help be relatable to the players, but I really want them to experience a journey of their own and, you know, achieve some fantastic things, which I'm sure they will.
“I want it to be the highlight of the Hartpury journey and I can help influence those.”
A springboard to put women’s football on the map in Gloucestershire?
Gloucestershire is quite popular for its sport, particularly cricket, and horse racing, where the Cheltenham Festival takes place every year.
Burridge believed, however, that this could be an opportunity for women’s football to put itself on the map in the county.
“I think women's football in general is massively growing, massively developing.
“We're really fortunate at Hartpury that we've got some fantastic facilities across our university and college pathway. So when people know about us, when people see the facilities, it's really exciting.
“Our offer to students from that college-to-university pathway now leading into our weekend FC team is a pathway from that 16-year-old player all the way up through the pathway now onto that university programme and to be a part of that weekend team.
“So to be able to experience the FA Cup and to be able to get our name out there a little bit more and to highlight the fantastic work that our staff put into the programme, the players put into the programme, we want more and more people to be a part of this.
“Whether you're a coach, whether you're a student analyst, whether you're a student that wants to work on their master's within one of our environments, women's football, men's football, we want to be able to offer those opportunities out to the local community and the local area.”
