The origins of Brighton & Hove Albion women’s football team can be traced back to 1990, where local sports retailers, C&C Sports, became affiliated to Brighton & Hove Albion FC following the initiation of Albion’s Football in the Community scheme.
The affiliation saw the team named as Brighton & Hove Albion Women & Girls’ FC, playing their matches at the Withdean Stadium. This also coincided with a change to the league structure, with the club joining the Premier Division of new South East Counties Women’s League formed from Sussex Martlet League and Kent/Surrey clubs.
Several divisional changes took place during the mid-nineties and in 1994 Albion were competing in the newly rebranded FA Premier League Southern Division, the second tier of women’s football. Albion also played three matches at the Goldstone Ground, including match-ups against Milton Keynes and Horsham, as well as against Whitehawk in the Sussex Women’s Cup semi-final.
In 1995 the club won the inaugural Sussex Women’s Cup, a competition that they would have considerable success in with a total of 17 triumphs.
A short-lived stint in the top flight at the turn of the century saw Albion competing with the biggest teams week in, week out. Following this, Albion were back playing in the second and third tiers.
Women’s football changed to play their league season over the summer following the introduction of the Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2011, and in 2014 a second division was added. Despite applying for a licence to play in the newly formed season tier, Albion were ultimately unsuccessful in their bid.
However, this didn’t hold the club back, firstly setting a record 3,256 attendance for a Women’s Premier League match in 2015, and just one season later Albion won the Premier League Southern Division. Just one game stood in their way to promotion to WSL 2, and a 4-2 play-off victory over Sporting Club Albion (now West Bromwich Albion) secured the team’s WSL status for the first time.
Changes back to playing a winter league meant that Albion had to wait over 15 months for their league bow, playing the Spring Series, without any promotion or relegation, during this time.
During the Spring Series, former Albion midfielder George Parris took interim charge of the side. Former England national team manager Hope Powell was then appointed as manager in September 2017.
Albion finally kicked off their WSL 2 campaign during that month with a 1-0 win away at Aston Villa and had a successful season, finishing as runners-up to eventual title winners Doncaster Rovers Belles.
Due to further changes announced by the FA, Albion’s second-place finish didn’t result in promotion and instead each WSL club had to reapply for a licence to play in one of the two divisions.
Albion applied for a licence to play in the top tier of women’s football and it was announced in December 2017 that the club was successful in its application. As part of the licence, a fully professional Albion moved to the People's Pension Stadium, the home of Crawley Town FC.
In their first season in the FA Women's Super League, Albion secured a ninth-place finish in 2018/19 and recorded notable victories over Yeovil Town, Liverpool, Birmingham City and West Ham United.