Spurs Ladies promote to top flight after 1-1 draw with Aston Villa

Heading into tonight’s away match against Aston Villa, all Tottenham Hotspur Ladies had to do to secure promotion was to draw. That’s exactly what they did. Striker Jessica Naz struck a lovely ball into the top corner in the first minute of the match, and that one goal was enough to earn a 1-1 draw against Villa and punch Spurs’ ticket to the top flight of English women’s football for the first time in club history.

The result spoiled yet another #Undrawables season for a Tottenham Hotspur football club, but it’s unlikely to dampen the spirits of Spurs Ladies. The result renders what might have been a winner-take-all match against third place Durham on May 11 moot — Spurs will move up along with FA Women’s Championship winners Manchester United.

Or, at least we think they will. We still haven’t heard whether Spurs will formally accept promotion — in order to do so, as we’ve stated in the past, they will need to become a fully professional club, among a few other requirements.

That doesn’t seem to be an issue, however. Spurs already announced that they are rebranding as of next season as Tottenham Hotspur Women, and have hired a new Head of Women’s Football — both promising signs that Tottenham are planning to bring the Women completely into the fold.

And there’s also this statement from the FA, delivered to the press.

Today’s achievement represents what an incredible job Spurs manager Karen Hills and first team coach Juan Amaros have done with this Ladies side. Three seasons ago they were playing in the third division of English football. Next season, they’ll be at the top of the pyramid.

Congratulations, and here’s hoping this is just the start of more good things to come for Tottenham Hotspur Women!