Manchester United have submitted an application to the English Football Association, in anticipation that they will be granted permission to begin their own women's team.
The club's Executive Vice Chairman, Ed Woodward, while making the announcement Wednesday evening said: "We are pleased to announce that the club intends to establish its first ever professional women’s team and has submitted an application to enter WSL2.
"The FA has provided excellent support through the process and we believe that launching a team in WSL2 would give many more of our graduates from the Regional Talent Club the chance to establish themselves as first-team players.
"The Manchester United women’s team must be built in the same image and with the same principles as the men's first team and offer academy players a clear route to top-level football within the club."
If approved, the Red Devils' ladies would enter the second tier of the Women's Super League, beginning in 2018-19, and would offer a career pathway for players who graduate from the Girls' Regional Talent Club.
Man United F.C has already witnessed upwards of 15 of its graduates playing international football in the 2017-18 season alone.
Should the application prove successful, the women's team would be based at United's long serving training centre at The Cliff.
Those youth team players have shown promise, reaching the Under-16 FA Youth Cup Final in 2016. Meanwhile, tryouts are expected to be held to fill further spots on the team.
The women's professional leagues in England are undergoing a restucturing which involves the WSL1 becoming the Women's Super League and the second division becoming the Women's Championship. As a result, current clubs had to reapply and new clubs were invited to apply for the remaining spots.
Manchester United are not the only Premier League club hoping to have a women's team join the second division. Crystal Palace are also among the applicants, as are Championship club Sheffield United. These three are among 15 total applicants, with four spots available for the top league and five for the second tier.
Application results will be announced at the end of May.
