Manchester City have signed the Japan forward Aoba Fujino on a three-year contract from Tokyo Verdy Beleza. Fujino is with the Japan squad at the Paris Olympics, where they will face the USA in the quarter-finals on Saturday, and will join up with Manchester City when they travel to Perth for a friendly competition later in August.
The 20-year-old has been given the No 20 shirt in Gareth Taylor’s squad after becoming their third signing of the summer. Fujino has long been hailed as one of Japan’s brightest emerging stars, particularly since starring at the 2022 Under-20 World Cup. She became her country’s youngest senior World Cup goalscorer during last year’s tournament in Australia and New Zealand, with a goal against Costa Rica.
She scored Japan’s opening goal against Spain in a 2-1 loss at the Olympics this summer. Over three years with Tokyo Verdy Beleza she scored 24 goals and provided 17 assists in 51 appearances.
She arrives at Manchester City after the summer signings of the Netherlands striker Vivianne Miedema from Arsenal and the right-back Risa Shimizu, Fujino’s fellow Japan international.
“In the league, this is a top-level club both physically and technically,” Fujino said of her switch to the Women’s Super League. “That is something that I find very appealing, the size of the team and the organisation. It’s very important to play in this kind of environment. This is a very big club with a lot of history, so I’m really excited to come here.”
Taylor praised Fujino’s “technical quality”, and City’s women’s team managing director, Charlotte O’Neill, said: “Aoba is an impressive striker whose signing shows our ambition and intent to challenge for silverware if you play for City. She will be a fantastic addition to our squad.”
Manchester United have confirmed the signing of the Sweden full-back Anna Sandberg from BK Häcken – first reported by the Guardian on Wednesday – for a fee understood to be a record for a Swedish player.
The 21-year-old has signed a three-year contract with an option for a further year. She was part of the Sweden squad that finished third at last year’s World Cup.
The Women’s FA Cup prize money has been frozen for the 2024-25 season, with £430,000 awarded to the side that win the final in addition to their winnings from previous rounds, and a pot of about £6m for the whole competition.
The prize pot for every round remains the same as what was eventually awarded last season, albeit the Women’s FA Cup prize pot was doubled in November 2023, midway through the campaign, after initially being announced as £3m. That followed a ten-fold increase in 2022.
The prize pot is still dwarfed by the men’s competition’s prize fund, which has not been confirmed for 2024-25 but last season was nearly £20m, with £2m given to the winners of the final. The women’s final will be at Wembley on Sunday 18 May 2025.
