A season packed with progress on and off the pitch, Gareth Taylor’s side narrowly missed out on the Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) title in agonising fashion on goal difference to Chelsea.
The closely contested 2023-24 campaign saw them win 14 consecutive games between November and April – the joint longest such sequence in WSL history.
City set a new benchmark for away games won in a WSL season, securing ten victories on the road. The team also secured a derby double against Manchester United, winning at both the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford.
Manchester City finished runners-up in the Barclays WSL, only losing out on goal difference.
Second Place
Barclays WSL
Semi-Finalists
Continental Tyres League Cup
Quarter-Finalists
FA Cup
This season saw City celebrate the tenth anniversary of becoming a fully professional club. In their first decade, City won eight trophies: four League Cups, three FA Cups and one WSL title. They also qualified for the UEFA Champions League eight times.
Taylor, who picked up two Manager of the Month awards this season, reached 100 wins in charge of the team.
City’s influence and prominence on the global stage was felt at both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which featured 13 and six City stars respectively.
Striker Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw scooped the WSL Player of the Season award, the WSL Golden Boot for her 21 goals, and was voted Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Women’s Player of the Year.
This season saw the Jamaica international become the team’s record scorer (with 68 goals) and record the most goals ever in a single season by a City player (22 in 25 games). She also became the first player in WSL history to record a goal involvement (goals scored or assists) in ten consecutive league matches.
The striker was not alone in earning recognition for her stellar efforts. At the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Khiara Keating became the youngest ever winner of the WSL Golden Glove for her nine clean sheets.
Teammate Lauren Hemp came top of the WSL assists table and defender Alex Greenwood completed more passes than anyone else in the WSL.
Those four players – Shaw, Hemp, Keating and Greenwood – were joined in the PFA WSL Team of the Year by Laia Aleixandri and Yui Hasegawa, with City accounting for more than half the team sheet.
Barclays WSL Player of the Season
Barclays WSL Golden Boot
21 goals scored
Barclays WSL Goal of the Month for March
Barclays WSL Player of the Month for December
Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year
PFA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year and WSL Team of the Year
Third-highest goal scoring tally in WSL history
Only Rachel Daly (in 2022-23) and Vivianne Miedema (in 2018-19)
have scored more goals in a WSL season (22 goals each)
Barclays WSL Golden Glove
9 clean sheets
Barclays WSL Player of the Month for February
PFA WSL Team of the Year
8.6 goals prevented (using Opta’s Expected Goals model)
More than any other goalkeeper this season and the second-best total
in any WSL season, behind only Megan Walsh in 2017-18 (13.7 goals prevented)
PFA WSL Team of the Year
1,719 passes completed
More than any other player in the WSL
439 carries (ball movement of more than 5m)
More than any other player in the WSL
PFA WSL Team of the Year
8 assists
More than any other player in the WSL
13 big chances created
More than any other player in the WSL
45 chances created from open play
More than any other player in the WSL
PFA WSL Team of the Year
350 carries (ball movement of more than 5m)
The second-highest figure for any player in the WSL,
behind only teammate Alex Greenwood
PFA WSL Team of the Year
65% success rate with attempted take-ons (dribbles)
The second-highest figure for any player in the WSL amongst players with at least 25 attempted take-ons
Source: Manchester City, WSL, PFA
The season also saw City submit a planning application for a new £10 million purpose-built training facility at the City Football Academy for the women’s team.
The development, which has now been approved, will provide the team with a bespoke facility, whilst also ensuring the players continue to benefit from the resources and knowledge of the wider City Football Academy.
The end of the 2023-24 season marked the end of an era with the retirement of Steph Houghton MBE. She was the first captain of the fully professional City side in 2014, and in her ten years at the Club racked up the most appearances (242) and won the most trophies (eight).
An England legend, she won 121 caps, was twice voted into the WSL Team of the Year and this year was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame.
City will mark her special contribution with its first-ever Club legend mosaic for a women’s player, which will be unveiled at the new training facility once it is complete.
