Cobdown Park, the training ground of newly promoted Women’s Super League side London City Lionesses, is a building site for now.
A large area of dirt stands where a new pitch is to be laid – diggers sitting behind one goal – and there are temporary cabins standing in for club offices.
Lionesses, who will play in the WSL for the first time this season, are the only fully independent side – not affiliated with a men’s club or another organisation – in the competition’s history.
But their captain, Kosovare Asllani, is in no mood to wait for top-flight success.
“Personally I would not be happy for us to be a mid-table team at the end of the season,” the Sweden international tells BBC Sport. “A good season would be top four.”
This reflects the ambition that is the defining trait at Cobdown Park.
Lionesses moved into their 28-acre base in Ditton last summer, with the intention of turning it into a centre of excellence for women’s and girls’ football.
Their attempts to break into the upper echelons of the game took off in December 2023 when they were taken over by American businesswoman Michele Kang. Last summer they signed Asllani, now 36, who has more than 200 caps for Sweden and won the WSL with Manchester City in 2016.
Asllani and the Lionesses won the second-tier title last season – secured on the final day with a 2-2 draw at second-place Birmingham City – and she will lead them into their maiden WSL campaign, which starts away to Champions League holders Arsenal at Emirates Stadium on 6 September.
The forward is still an operator at the highest level – she was Sweden’s captain at Euro 2025, scoring the opener against England in their quarter-final.
And while she is realistic about the challenge of breaking the established WSL order, she will only settle for the very best.
