London Bees

London Bees carry one of the longer and more tangled lineages in London women's football. The club traces back to 1975 as District Line Ladies, merged with Wembley FC in 1993 to become Wembley Ladies — a side that won the League Cup in 1996, reached the 1997 Women's FA Cup final, and gave a young Kelly Smith, later an England legend, her start. Affiliated with Barnet FC, the club was rebranded as London Bees when it was welcomed into the newly-created WSL 2 in 2014. Their best years came soon after: in 2016 they enjoyed a record points haul and a run to the Continental Cup semi-finals, knocking out Chelsea along the way. Based in north London and known as the Bees, they've remained a fixture of the London women's game, with a strong focus on developing young talent.