The new name reflects Chelsea’s position as a leading club within the sport. It is representative of a modern view on language and equality, and is in keeping with the way our governing bodies, supporters, squad and management regard the women’s game.

The change will see us move away from consistently referring to our men’s team as the ‘first’ team, acknowledging the ever-growing status of women’s football, and Chelsea within it.

Chelsea Chairman, Bruce Buck, said: ‘We believe this is an important step for the evolution of our women’s team. We are incredibly proud of their achievements to date and are fully committed to being a force for good in women and girls’ sport.’

Chelsea FC Women manager, Emma Hayes, added: ‘This name change demonstrates the club’s desire to put women’s football at the front and centre of everything we do.

‘Chelsea’s continued commitment to the women’s game is unwavering and this decision is something I fully support.’

In recent years, the team, under Hayes and her management group’s leadership, has gone from strength to strength, lifting both the FA Women’s Super League title and Women’s FA Cup in 2015, followed by the Spring Series in 2017.

This season we achieved a hugely impressive Double, lifting the FA Cup at Wembley before sealing another WSL title in our penultimate league game. We also reached the Champions League semi-final for the first time in the team’s history, and can look ahead to trying to go even further in Europe next season. The move to our new Kingsmeadow home for the 2017/18 campaign has seen us play in front of the WSL’s highest average attendance.

At Chelsea, we see our female players as role models for the next generation, just as we do our men’s team, and hope their achievements can help inspire and empower even more women and girls to take up the game we all love.

