Days away from captaining her childhood team, Manchester United, in a first Women’s FA Cup final, Katie Zelem is hungry for silverware, but also quick to contextualise just how far the team have come.
United stand on the verge of a first major trophy since winning promotion and the Championship title in their first season after the club reformed the women’s team in 2018. They could also pull off a league and cup Double, with the team four points clear of Sunday’s FA Cup final opponents, Chelsea, albeit having played two games more. Equally, they could finish empty handed.
At the start of the season the target was Champions League football and, given their position and superior goal difference, that looks all but secured. But now they have come so close would it be a failure if they finished without a trophy?
“I’m going to say no,” says Zelem after a slight pause. “I’ve been at the team for five years. We had one year in the Championship, one year of Covid that wasn’t a completed season. So if you look at it from that perspective then being disappointed that we’d not won something would be a crazy jump from having no team at all five years ago.
“We have always set out to get in the Champions League and I think now we seem like we’ve passed it but we’re not secure yet; we’ve still got to play Man City and Liverpool. We can’t take anything lightly. Of course, every one of us would sit here and say they want to win something – we are in a cup final and we are sitting in a great position in the league – but failure is a bit of a strong word. We’ll try and win all our games and see what happens.”
The task is huge, United having taken a single point from seven games against Chelsea in the league since moving up and have also endured two League Cup defeats against them.
However, this season, despite losing twice to Chelsea in the league, United have reduced the margin between the sides and shown a resilience against the other top teams that was maybe missing.
Arsenal will host five Women’s Super League games at the Emirates Stadium next season in a bid to build on this season’s success of record-breaking crowds. The women’s team has played three league games at the Emirates this term, hosting Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea at the ground. Each fixture broke past the attendance record of 38,262 that was set in 2019 with 47,367 at the north London derby, 40,064 watching a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United and more than 46,000 at the draw with Chelsea. The Gunners, who primarily play at Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park, also played all of their Champions League home games at the Emirates and the club has confirmed that all matches from the group stage onwards would again take place at the main stadium. The Arsenal CEO, Vinai Venkatesham, said: “This latest announcement ensures that as many supporters as possible can enjoy the matchday experience with us, as we continue to support the sustainable growth of women’s football.” Guardian sport
“Definitely in previous seasons we’ve gone into those sorts of games as the underdogs and now we don’t feel like that’s the case at all,” says Zelem. “We don’t change for the other teams, whereas maybe in the first few seasons it was more about staying in the game, maybe take a point or maybe nick a win. Now, you see in a lot of the games we dominate possession.”
Dominating the ball at Wembley, in front of the first sellout crowd for a Women’s FA Cup final, will be difficult against a Chelsea side eyeing the same double, one they could win for a third consecutive season.
Zelem needs a win more than most, to end her dad’s bragging right. Alan Zelem was a goalkeeper in Macclesfield’s 1-0 defeat by Telford in the 1989 FA Trophy final at the old Wembley.
“He tells me this all the time,” she says. “I wasn’t alive. My dad and his twin [Peter] were professional footballers and that was my dad’s career highlight. If you ever get a chance to meet him I’m sure he’ll tell you that he played at Wembley. He got beat so hopefully it will be a different outcome for us. But as soon as we made it to Wembley he texted me saying: ‘You’re always copying me.’”
Zelem says a “gang of them”, her family that is, will be travelling down to watch her lead the team out. The set-piece specialist signed for United aged eight and worked her way through the academy alongside current teammates such as Alessia Russo, Millie Turner and Ella Toone. When she reached 16 she was forced out by the lack of a team, signing for Liverpool then Juventus before being recruited by United for the senior side’s maiden season.
“Manchester United lives firmly in my heart,” she says. “Captaining Manchester United, making my debut. This moment [the FA Cup final] will certainly be up there in my highlights. It’s a club I’ve been at for a really long time and supported my whole life. It’s what childhood dreams are made of.”
