Supporters walking past the front of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with portraits of players including Olivia Holdt. Photograph: Matt Impey/Shutterstock
After a record equalling finish under Martin Ho last season and a summer recruitment strategy that has turned heads can Spurs push into the top four?
Guardian writers’ predicted position: 5th (NB: this is not necessarily Suzanne Wracks’s prediction but the average of our writers’ tips)
Last season’s position: 5th
Prospects
Last season Tottenham matched their best Women’s Super League season with a fifth-place finish. However, they ended with four points more than in 2021-22 and closed the gap on fourth from 10 points to four. That is all the more impressive given their 11th place the preceding season.
It’s fair to say then that Martin Ho has rejuvenated the side. That has come with increased support from the wider club. This summer their recruitment strategy has turned heads with top young talents such as the club-record signing Alice Sombath and the goalkeeper Selma Panengstuen added alongside experienced WSL performers such as Shekiera Martinez and Kirsty Hanson. The club secured their top five targets early in the window too, to give the team as full a pre-season together as possible.
They secured three friendly wins, against Granada and Birmingham, which sandwiched a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid, and Bristol City. Their 5-0 defeat of Bristol City was particularly pleasing for Ho, who said: “As I’ve said to the players, we have a good enough squad with depth in it that we can really compete.” The manager is working his players hard, with many speaking about the intensity of training. Martinez said: “The intensity is really high, the training has been really tough, so I can’t wait until the league starts.” Players are enjoying the burn, though, because they have bought into Ho’s vision for the way the team should play and his and the club’s ambitions for the short, medium and long term. How well Tottenham will do when other teams are also investing heavily is hard to predict, but many regard Spurs as the dark horses who could frustrate the top teams and big-spending London City Lionesses.
Graphic showing how Spurs finished in the past five seasons
Off-field picture
Backing for the women’s team has ramped up a gear from top to bottom after the departure of the former chair Daniel Levy. The arrival of Vinai Venkatesham as chief executive in April 2025 has probably played a part, given his vocal and active backing of the Arsenal women’s team while he was at Tottenham’s rivals. There has been some change this summer, with Andy Rogers departing as managing director of the women’s team after 24 years at the club in various roles. Financially, the club have increased their investment in the women’s team, with turnover up from £3.39m in 2023-24 to £4.41m in the year ending June 2025. Their next accounts will probably show further investment. In July the club were dealt a blow after a high-court decision to block plans for a new women’s and girls’ football academy in Whitewebbs Park.
The manager
Ho was patient in his approach to the squad he inherited last summer, keen to not write anyone off despite their flirtation with relegation. Toko Koga and Cathinka Tandberg were the only additions and Ho gave everyone a chance to show what they could do when playing the way he wanted. That earned him a lot of loyalty and respect and his careful and thoughtful approach to squad development alongside his tactical outlook have made him a key factor when players choose to join. That is reflected in the number of his former players who have signed up to work with him again, including Signe Gaupset in January and Hanson and Panengstuen this summer. Repeating or building on his debut season will be tricky with other teams also investing ambitiously, but Ho seems very capable of doing either.
Star signing
Sombath’s big fee will have made a lot of people very excited but the recruitment of Hanson is perhaps the shrewdest of the signings. The understated 28-year-old joined from Aston Villa having finished as the third-highest goalscorer in the WSL last season. Hanson, one goal behind Alessia Russo and nine behind the Golden Boot winner, Khadija Shaw, was the highest-scoring midfielder in the league. She is an exciting addition to Spurs’ spine, is hugely consistent and is in her prime.
The Scotland international Kirsty Hanson has joined Tottenham and signed a long-term contract. Photograph: Ali Painter/WSL/Getty Images
Stat attack
Tottenham had a very weird 2025-26 in front of goal. Excluding penalties, they scored 1.55 times more than expected. They were close to hitting par. Yet they were up by 8.12 goals against xG in open play but down by 6.57 on set pieces. Their per-game average for the latter (0.30) was worse than any men’s side in Europe’s big five leagues. Making more of their set plays could have a huge impact.
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Graphic showing Tottenham were very poor at converting chances from set pieces
Set for a breakthrough
There are big expectations around Sombath. The 22-year-old centre-back has joined from the eight-time European champions Lyonnes, having been ushered into the senior set-up there by the now Chelsea manager, Sonia Bompastor. Sombath won a Champions League title and five league titles with the French club and has learned her trade under the tutelage of the influential centre-backs Wendie Renard and Griedge Mbock. She is able to play at right-back or centre-back and featured in each of France’s four games at the 2025 European Championship after getting her first cap in November 2024.
What they say
“ I’m training now with her and I think she’s so underrated. It’s better when people call you underrated and all your teammates know how good you are. I think Drew is really good. So, she really surprised me. ‘Surprised me’ sounds bad, but it’s more just that now I’m training with her every day, I’m like: ‘Wow’” – Victoria Pelova on the new captain, Drew Spence
Where are they playing their home games?
Spurs will continue at Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road, with select showpiece fixtures at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The first of those will be on 25 October when they host Arsenal, and Manchester United will be welcomed to the main stadium in February. In the year ending June 2025, matchday revenue was down from £513,00 to £433,000. There will be a desire to get more people watching to help offset some of the increased investment. The football is delivering for fans who go or tune in so the club need to find a way to capitalise on that.
