The Clapton CFC Women’s First Team are preparing for the new 2024/25 season with no less than seven pre-season friendlies booked in.

Four of those games are against higher division opposition in head coach Jason Murray’s first pre-season in charge.

Saturday, July 13

The highlight of the summer will be the visit to Independiente de Vallecas in Madrid on Saturday, July 13, a double header with the Men’s First Team.

Sunday, July 21

The first home friendly after the summer reseeding of the Old Spotted Dog Ground sees the visit of tier five (one level above us) side Sutton United. This will be our second meeting with The U’s first team, following on from a dramatic Capital Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out win in March 2022, but we’ve also played their U23s. Kick off is 2pm.

Wednesday, July 24

That is followed a few days later by another tier 5 opposition in Barking. It’s our first clash with their women’s first team, although the men’s teams have met each other in a friendly before. This game will take place at the club’s home ground at Mayesbrook Park, with an 8pm kick off.

Saturday, July 27

The team will defend the Supporters Direct Shield, the annual competition between fan-owned clubs which we won against FC United of Manchester last summer. At 4pm at the QEII Stadium we’ll play tier 4 side Enfield Town, whose men’s team play Hendon on the same day for the Brian Lomax FSA Trophy. We’ve played the Enfield women’s first team once before, losing 4-2 in the Capital Cup.

Sunday, August 4

This is a big one, an East London derby at our Old Spotted Dog Ground with the Leyton Orient women’s first team. We’ve played the Orient reserves team before – losing twice in cups – although that club later turned into London Seaward. So this is the first meeting with the new Leyton Orient set-up. They now play one level below us at tier 7 but will no doubt climb up the pyramid. Kick off 2pm.

Wednesday, August 7

Next up we face a midweek game and it’s against Welling United, who are the only fellow tier 6 side we’re playing in pre-season. We met once before, last season in an epic Capital Cup tie away which ended in a 5-3 win. It’s at the Old Spotted Dog Ground with kick off 7.45pm.

Sunday, August 11

Our old friends Sport London e Benfica visit us at the Old Spotted Dog Ground to round off the pre-season schedule. We’ve faced them four times, with one draw, losing by a goal in the other three games. Benfica won the only promotion spot from our division last seson so they have moved up to tier 5. Kick off 2pm.

All fixtures are subject to change. Keep an eye on the fixtures page for more information.